COLUMBUS, Ohio — Luke Perez, the Ohio State University assistant professor filmed tackling an independent filmmaker in a campus hallway in February, has resigned, the university confirmed.
University spokesperson Ben Johnson confirmed Perez resigned Friday, Oct. 23, and is no longer an Ohio State employee. Perez had been on paid administrative leave since Feb. 11, and the university said a faculty sanctioning process involving him had not concluded when he resigned.
Perez, an assistant professor affiliated with the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society, was recorded Feb. 9 knocking a phone out of the hand of documentarian Michael Newman and wrestling him to the ground. Newman and journalist D.J. Byrnes had approached former Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee to ask questions after Gee delivered a guest lecture.
Perez was charged with assault in Franklin County Municipal Court on Feb. 16. In July, he pleaded no contest to an amended charge of disorderly conduct, and Judge Jodi Thomas found him guilty of the reduced charge, according to court records. He received a suspended 30-day jail term, two years of probation and a $100 fine, plus probation fees and court costs, and was ordered to have no contact with Newman.
A university panel that investigated the confrontation reported in May that it “found sufficient evidence that Dr. Perez’s actions constituted workplace violence.” A sanctioning committee called the episode the most egregious case of workplace violence it had investigated and recommended Perez be fired.
Newman has also sued Perez and Ohio State law professor Christopher Green in federal court, alleging violations of his First and Fourth Amendment rights. The lawsuit, filed in July, alleges Green made false statements to police that portrayed Newman as the aggressor. The suit remains pending. Jeffrey Vardaro, an attorney for Newman, called the resignation a “positive development.”
Newman told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he suffered whiplash in the scuffle and that his monopod was damaged.
The Chase Center was created by the Ohio Legislature in 2023.
