MEDINA, Ohio — A police officer accused of attacking an immigrant said it was his trust in a fellow officer that led to the 2024 incident.
Donald Kopchak, 41, a Cleveland Division of Police officer and former federal task force agent, made those comments during his Thursday testimony at a trial where he faces charges of ethnic intimidation, abduction and assault. His co-defendant, Daniel Lajack, 48, pleaded guilty last month to a felony charge of attempted abduction and is scheduled for sentencing next week.
Kopchak testified he was simply trying to enjoy a night out when Lajack, a then-Portage County Sheriff’s deputy with whom he met with earlier in the night, lied about having reason to arrest another man at the bar and outed Kopchak, an undercover police officer, in public…