One year after an Akron police officer shot him multiple times, including in the chest, outside of an Ellet bar, Corey Phillips filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Akron and the police officer who shot him.
Officer Caleb Bodjanac fired his Glock 45 at least 15 times after responding to 911 calls Nov. 11, 2025, that Phillips was armed and belligerently threatening patrons inside Karam’s Lounge and in the parking lot of the business plaza after he was kicked out of the bar.
Phillips was unarmed, though, and appeared confused as Bodjanac ordered him to the ground and then shot Phillips as he appeared to reach inside his coat. A Karam’s Lounge bartender, in a frantic 911 call, and others reported Phillips had a gun and threatened to use it.
No witnesses actually saw him with one, and no gun was found on him in the aftermath.
Photographs of Phillips’ clothing obtained by Signal Akron from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which the APD brings in to investigate shootings by its officers, document 14 evidence stickers next to suspected bullet holes in his jacket. The same bullet could have caused multiple holes.
Phillips, now 37, survived the shooting and underwent emergency surgeries at Summa Health. Phillips’ attorney didn’t immediately respond to Signal Akron’s question about his current condition.
A Summit County grand jury declined to indict Bodjanac in June after state prosecutors presented the evidence collected by the Ohio BCI in the two months after the shooting. Police officers have a higher threshold to be charged for an on-duty killing than civilians do.
U.S. Supreme Court precedent dictates that police shootings must be judged on what the officer thought in the moment, without factoring in information gleaned afterward.
The City of Akron’s spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Lawsuit alleges Fourth Amendment rights violation
The lawsuit filed on Nov. 10 by the Cleveland-based law firm FG+G alleges:
- Bodjanac’s actions were unconstitutional, violating Phillips’ Fourth Amendment rights “to be free from the use of unreasonable and excessive force.”
- The City of Akron is also liable for the use of unconstitutional force for not properly training officers on interacting with intoxicated people and not holding them accountable for constitutional violations. “These widespread practices were so well-settled as to constitute de facto policy” by the city and its officials.
- Bodjanac violated state “reckless breach of duty” law because he “failed to exercise due care” in the encounter with Phillips.
- Bodjanac violated state assault and battery laws.
The lawsuit did not attach a specific dollar figure to the claim but is seeking a trial where those figures will be established.
Signal Akron previously reported that Bodjanac was involved in at least 13 use-of-force incidents in the 11 months between joining the APD and the Nov. 11, 2025, shooting in Ellet. He was disciplined for a forceful response to a similar call that March.
State records show that he still works for the APD.
