Officer in Taser lawsuit gets gun back after conviction
Judge orders jail time with plea deal in domestic violence case, but returns weapon so he can start new job with township police
CLAY TOWNSHIP — Hiring standards for police officers aren’t quite the same as they were a few years ago, but this township police department overlooked some colliding concerns when it hired Donald Kreager Jr. for its patrol division last year.
The department made Kreager the job offer while he was serving a jail sentence on a domestic violence-related conviction. Sandusky County District 2 Judge Cynthia Welty signed a Judgment Entry that effectively paved Kreager’s way back into a patrol car.
‘Work-only’ weapon
The order contains a striking compromise: Kreager is authorized to carry a firearm only during his hours of employment and must “secure said firearm in a locked safe at the Clay Township Police Department” immediately following each shift.
The court doesn’t trust Kreager enough to let him take his service weapon home between shifts, but it’s confident enough to give him back his gun and his badge during the day to keep the townsfolk in line.
He still has his Taser weapon, too. The 37-year-old officer’s rapid return to duty comes despite a criminal record involving allegations of child endangering and a separate, pending federal lawsuit for near-lethal excessive use of force with his Taser.
Judge Welty signed a judgment entry April 16, 2025. The restriction serves as a tacit acknowledgement of risk—an admission that the defendant should not have access to a weapon in a domestic setting—yet it allowed Kreager to bypass the standard probation terms that prohibit convicted offenders from possessing weapons.
