Steve Zahursky: DUI Arrest, Felony Indictment, and Plea Deal

Steve Zahursky is a former NFL offensive lineman turned North Royalton, Ohio, police officer who was indicted in March 2019 on felony perjury and evidence-tampering charges after a suspect’s cellphone video contradicted his DUI arrest report and sworn testimony. He pleaded guilty in November 2019 to a single misdemeanor count of obstruction of official business, received one year of inactive probation and a $50 fine, and was allowed to keep his job. He remains an active patrolman with the North Royalton Police Department.¹

Before policing, Zahursky played college football at Kent State and entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 1998, spending time with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns across 26 games over three seasons.² In his later law enforcement career, he built a reputation as Cuyahoga County’s most aggressive impaired-driving enforcer, leading the county in OVI arrests in 2011 and 2012 and making 111 OVI arrests in 2012 alone.³

The 2018 Arrest That Started the Case

On a night in April 2018, Zahursky pulled over 22-year-old Austin Smith-Skinner and arrested him for DUI, fleeing, and resisting arrest. His report stated that Smith-Skinner slurred his words 27 times and swayed during field sobriety testing.⁴ What the officer did not know was that Smith-Skinner had recorded the stop on his phone.

In Parma Municipal Court, Judge Timothy Gilligan reviewed the footage. The video showed Smith-Skinner speaking clearly, nothing like the account in the report. At a pretrial hearing, the judge asked Zahursky to point out moments in the video where the driver appeared intoxicated; the officer reportedly said nothing.⁵ Judge Gilligan dismissed all charges against Smith-Skinner in October 2018 and issued a written opinion finding “numerous exaggerations,” “falsehoods and misstatements” in the officer’s report. He wrote that Zahursky’s account “stood in shocking and chilling contrast” to the video and that “such dishonesty stains the badge of all courageous police officers dedicated to protect and serve.”⁶

Department Response: A One-Day Suspension

North Royalton Police Chief Kenneth Bilinovich ran an internal investigation and suspended Zahursky for one day. In a letter attached to the agreement with the officer, the chief wrote that Zahursky “was not as familiar with the case he was testifying to as he should have been, in part because of an unvetted cell phone video that the officer did not get to watch before he testified,” and that there was “no proof that the officer lied or purposely filed a police report with inaccuracies or falsehoods.”⁶ Bilinovich publicly called Judge Gilligan’s ruling a “personal attack” on the officer.⁷

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Mike O’Malley bypassed the local department and referred the matter to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The Felony Indictment

On March 8, 2019, a special grand jury in Cleveland indicted Zahursky on felony perjury, felony tampering with evidence, and misdemeanor falsification. The charges stemmed from the written report and his sworn testimony at the Smith-Skinner hearing. He was placed on unpaid administrative leave.⁸

A Template in Other Reports

The indictment opened Zahursky’s broader arrest record to scrutiny. A March 2019 investigation by Cleveland 19 News found that his OVI reports across dozens of cases used nearly identical language regardless of the circumstances, including the recurring phrases “I approached the drivers window and immediately detected the obvious odor of alcoholic beverages emanating from the interior of the vehicle” and “The drivers eyes were bloodshot, red and watery, he appeared disoriented, drunk-like and dazed.”⁸

Attorney Anthony Manning, who represented Smith-Skinner, said the reports read “almost like a template that he fills out.” Court records from 2016 through 2018 showed Zahursky’s OVI tickets generated more than $300,000 in revenue for the Parma and North Royalton courts. Attorney Joseph Pattituce called that volume a “huge cash cow” and said former clients had contacted him about reopening their cases.⁸ Two additional individuals told attorney Marcus Sidoti they had been wrongly arrested by Zahursky, that their cases were dismissed, and that they lost their jobs; they expressed interest in joining a lawsuit.⁹

Trial, Plea Deal, and Sentence

Zahursky’s felony trial opened on November 18, 2019, in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court before Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold. Special prosecutor John Ricotta told jurors the police report and sworn testimony contained “downright fabrications.” Defense attorneys Henry Hilow and Daniel Misiewicz argued the video had been “manipulated,” claiming Smith-Skinner had downloaded it to a laptop and transferred it back onto a wiped phone. Judge Strickland Saffold denied a defense motion to suppress the video on the eve of trial.¹⁰

On the third day, before any witness testified, Zahursky took a plea. He pleaded guilty to obstruction of official business, a second-degree misdemeanor. The prosecutor dropped the felony perjury and tampering counts and the falsification charge. Judge Strickland Saffold sentenced him to one year of inactive probation and a $50 fine, and recommended he serve the probation on restricted duty with his department. The deal let him keep his badge. Hilow framed the plea as an acknowledgment that his client was “unprepared to testify” and said Zahursky “did nothing wrong” during the original arrest.¹¹

Civil Lawsuits

Smith-Skinner filed a federal civil rights lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Zahursky and the City of North Royalton, represented by Marcus Sidoti.⁹ A related case, Shankle v. City of North Royalton Police Department, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in February 2020 and named both the city and Zahursky as defendants. Judge Christopher A. Boyko granted summary judgment for the defendants in September 2021, and the case was terminated the following month.¹²

Where Things Stand

Zahursky was never terminated. The North Royalton Police Department’s 2024 annual report lists him as an active patrolman who completed 37.65 hours of training that year.¹

1
City of North Royalton. North Royalton Police Department 2024 Annual Report
2
NFL. Steve Zahursky Career Stats
3
Cleveland.com. North Royalton Police Officer Named Top OVI Cop
4
Cleveland 19 News. Video of DUI Arrest Convinces Grand Jury to Indict Officer for Perjury
5
NBC4i. Top OVI Police Officer Indicted for Lying About Drunken Driving Arrest
6
Fox 8 Cleveland. North Royalton Police Officer Indicted on Felony Charges
7
Fox 8 Cleveland. North Royalton Police Chief Defends Officer Accused of Falsifying OVI Report
8
Cleveland 19 News. North Royalton Police Officer’s Arrest Reports Show Disturbing Similarities in Dozens of OVI Charges
9
Cleveland.com. Two More Interested in Joining Potential Lawsuit Against North Royalton DUI Cop Charged With Perjury
10
Cleveland.com. North Royalton Police Officer’s Report, Testimony in DUI Case Included ‘Downright Fabrications,’ Prosecutor Says
11
Cleveland.com. North Royalton Police Officer Accused of Lying About DUI Arrest Pleads Guilty to Misdemeanor, Will Keep Job
12
CourtListener. Shankle v. City of North Royalton Police Department