Ohio Councilman’s Wife Tells Police He Used N-Word Before Violent Clash with Young Black Man — But He Claims ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Time’ and Won’t Resign

An incident in which a city councilman in Ohio purportedly uttered a racial slur during a confrontation that ended in violence has recently come to light and stirred local controversy and calls for his resignation.

Body camera footage captured the aftermath of the altercation on Sept. 7, 2024, involving Councilman Scott Marn in Mentor, Ohio, after he reportedly got into a fight with 26-year-old Tony Q Jackson-Davis outside a Buffalo Wild Wings, according to News5Cleveland.

The confrontation started after witnesses reported that Jackson-Davis was driving erratically in the parking lot and then heard an argument that intensified when racial slurs started being thrown around.

Marn’s wife is heard on bodycam video telling officers that Marn called Jackson-Davis the N-word.

“He called him a n****r,” Wendy Marn told police in a body camera video. “I’m sorry. He did.”

As more first responders gathered at the scene, an unidentified woman was heard yelling the same racial slur and a death threat.

“F***ing n****r! I’m going to kill you!” the woman shouted.

Bodycam video also recorded the moments Jackson-Davis accused Marn of using the slur before he knocked him unconscious.

“You know what you did: you a racist,” Jackson-Davis said. “He spit in my face. Of course he’s going to be unconscious.”

Marn denied ever using any racial epithets, but did admit that while he did not call Jackson-Davis the N-word, he told him “you’re acting like one.”

“‘You want to call me an N? Calling us N’s and everything else,”‘ Marn recalled Jackson-Davis saying. “I said, ‘Listen, I’m not calling you N, but you’re acting like one.’ I go, ‘You know what, I’m done, I’m not going to fall into one of these racist black-on-white, white-on-black crimes,’” he told News5.

Jackson-Davis pleaded guilty to felonious assault for the incident and was recently sentenced to four to six years in jail.

Marn later released a statement about the incident, apologizing for actions that he said were triggered by an “emotionally charged and frightened state.”

“I want to thank my peer on Painesville City Council, Councilman Abney, as well as Reverend Chris Lee, President, for providing my wife and I an opportunity to meet with the Executive Committee of the Lake County NAACP regarding their concerns of the unfortunate events of September 7, 2024. Life is about perspective, and I appreciate the different perspectives shared with me last night surrounding the culturally sensitive issues that have been brought to the forefront as a result of some of the reporting done in the media. My recitation of the facts of the night of September 7, 2024 has been consistent and truthful.

What I haven’t done until recently, is reflect on what I could have done differently. Thanks to the discussion with the Executive Committee, I now realize I should not have replied in an emotionally charged and frightened state. It is important to draw our better angels to avoid using any language, specific or inferred, that does not reflect the dignity God has bestowed on all of us as human beings.

As I find it in my heart to forgive the violence done to me the night of September 7, it is my hope there is forgiveness in the hearts of of anyone I may have offended in the black community, for which I am sorry. I am looking forward to attending Implicit Biased training. I have tried to live my life with love and openness to all and that will never change.

We all need to continue to work together to keep Lake County the best place to be.”

Marn was already embroiled in a lawsuit that accused him and other Mentor council members of statutory retaliation, sexual harassment, age discrimination, and denial of due process.

The suit claimed that Marn bragged to female employees about being able to have sex with women outside the confines of marriage and once suggested that a female employee should use part of her raise to get a breast enhancement, among several other allegations.

According to News5, Marn’s peers plan to call him to resign from his position over “gross misconduct and a violation of his oath of office,” at an upcoming Mentor City Council meeting.

As of now, Marn has no plans to resign.

“It was the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said according to News5 Cleveland. Adding, “At least you finally heard the truth after five months. Look up the court dockets. Look up all the information there. Look up the actual truth. Now it’s been taken out of context by media and by people online. Complete garbage and rubbage. I’ve served my council, people well over 25 years. [I’ve] done the best I’ve possibly can for my constituents for 25 years. I will not be resigning because I didn’t do anything wrong. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.