Ohio Police Arrest Man Accused of Kneeling on Child’s Neck in Photo

2018 File mugshot of Isaiah Jackson. (Clark County Sheriff's Office)

Ohio police have arrested a 20-year-old man who was photographed kneeling on the neck of a 2-year-old boy.

The man in the photograph, which was heavily circulated on social media on Tuesday night, was identified by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office as Isaiah Jackson, reported WHIO-TV.

The image, captioned “Blm [Black Lives Matter] now mf,” appeared to show the 20-year-old kneeling on the boy’s neck while making hand signs, in an apparent reference to the death of George Floyd on May 25. A second individual can be seen holding the crying child’s hands behind his back.

Incident deputies said the 2-year-old boy was taken to a local hospital for examination, but was uninjured in the incident.

Investigators made contact with Jackson, the child and the child’s mother after learning of the incident. Jackson has been arrested and is being held in the Clark County Jail on a probation violation while charges are pending review, according to online jail records.

Clark County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Kristopher Shultz said in a press release that a case against the 20-year-old has been presented to the prosecutor’s office who will “provide a determination on the scope and breadth of the felony charges” that he will face. It is not yet clear what charges Jackson may face.

Shultz added that the boy’s mother was unaware of the photo having been taken, or its contents, until she had been informed by other parties.

“We are looking into this case, however it is still an active investigation. At this point we are actively looking into it and we are VERY early on into this investigation,” Maj. Chris Clark told WHIO-TV in a statement.

It follows a separate incident last week which saw a Wisconsin woman, 37, charged for allegedly abusing her teenage son by kneeling on his neck, as she asked: “Do you want to know how George Floyd died? He died something like this. Do you want to die just like him?”

“Tell me you can’t breathe, tell me,” Keriann Smith allegedly told her 14-year-old son, according to the Journal Times.

Footage of the alleged assault was recorded by the boy’s sister, who handed it over to police. It appeared to show the mother place her knee on her son’s throat for nearly 50 seconds.

The boy told police he feared for his life, and that it wasn’t the first time his mother had “done it,” according to a complaint.