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September 2022

Columbus Urban League plans Saturday forum after fatal police shooting of Donovan Lewis

Bethany Bruner
The Columbus Dispatch

Community organizations asked for a transparent investigation on Wednesday, a day after Columbus police released body camera footage of a fatal police shooting that occurred on Tuesday morning — as well as two other recent shootings.

The Columbus Urban League is planning a public forum Saturday following the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Donovan Lewis by Columbus police officer Ricky Anderson early Tuesday morning as warrants for Lewis’ arrest on felony and other charges were being served.

The details of the forum have not yet been finalized, but Urban League President Stephanie Hightower said the shooting of Lewis — the third shooting in eight days involving a Columbus police officer — showed the reasons why the community demanded a civilian review board and inspector general in 2020.

“Yesterday’s shooting evokes painful, conflicting responses,” Hightower said. “We understand that serving a felony warrant creates a highly volatile and dangerous situation. And yet, the body camera video is as gut-wrenching as is the fact that another Black man lost his life.”

The family of Lewis released a statement late Wednesday, saying the video revealed the truth of what happened.

“In literally the blink of an eye, a Columbus Police Officer shot and killed Donovan Lewis, an unarmed young Black man who was alone in his bed in the middle of the night,” the statement said. “Frame by frame, the video reveals the truth — three white officers accompanied by an aggressive K9 dog shot an unarmed 20-year-old in cold blood as he sat up in his bed in compliance with police commands.”

The statement said Lewis’ family is grieving and asking for peaceful support.

“Rest assured, we will get justice for Donovan and do everything in our power to stop these senseless killings,” the family said. “There cannot be one more young Black life taken this way.”

Lewis’ family is expected to speak publicly at a press conference on Thursday morning.

Donovan Lewis shooting: Columbus police video prompts community response

Hightower is one of several community leaders who reacted following the release of body camera footage from officers at the scene of the shooting.

Lewis was fatally shot around 2 a.m. Tuesday after Columbus police had gone to his apartment on the 3200 block of Sullivant Avenue to attempt to arrest him on multiple warrants. Court records show Lewis was wanted on a felony charge of improper handling of a firearm, as well as a misdemeanor probation violation and misdemeanor charges of domestic violence and assault filed Aug. 10 in connection with Lewis’ girlfriend, who is pregnant.

Watch (Viewer Discretion Advised): Full video: Columbus police body camera footage of Donovan Lewis shooting

Body camera footage released on Tuesday afternoon by Columbus police shows K-9 officer Ricky Anderson at Lewis’ bedroom door. Officers had spent between eight to 10 minutes attempting to get someone to open the door of the apartment, Chief Elaine Bryant said, and detained two other people in the apartment after they eventually opened the door.

Bryant said officers then spent additional time trying to get Lewis to come out, including sending a canine into the apartment. The dog barked at the closed bedroom door repeatedly, alerting officers to the presence of someone inside.

Video shows that when officers entered the apartment, Anderson holsters his firearm to put the dog back on the leash and then redraws his firearm before opening the bedroom door. Another officer yells “Hands!” as Lewis sits up in bed and the light from that officer’s gun shines on Lewis.

Anderson almost immediately fires a single shot, striking Lewis in the abdomen.

Lewis had what Bryant described as a vape pen-type device in his hand at the time of the shooting.

Police carried Lewis out of the apartment to the grassy area in front of the building, providing CPR and other first aid for the nearly five minutes that elapsed before paramedics arrived. Lewis was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where he died at 3:19 a.m. Tuesday.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is handling the investigation of the case, as is city policy regarding shootings involving Columbus police officers in which injury or death occur.

Read about the body camera:Columbus police release body camera footage of fatal police shooting in the Hilltop

“We’re committed to full transparency, to sharing as much as we can as quickly as we are able do so and we’re committed to holding officers accountable if there was any wrongdoing,” Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said Tuesday.

Following the release of the body camera footage, community leaders began weighing in and offering condolences to Lewis’ family.

“As always, the Columbus NAACP will wait for the particulars of the shooting,” the organization said in a statement. “We demand that BCI conduct a thorough, comprehensive and immediate investigation. These incidents leave behind grieving family members, unanswered questions from the community and a further divide between the citizens and the police department.”

For subscribers:What will Columbus’ ongoing police reform look like in 2022?

Expert says K-9 officer’s tactics were sound

An expert in police canine operations said Wednesday that his review of the body-worn camera footage released Tuesday afternoon showed sound tactics by Anderson.

“Usually they’ll go in the back and officers who won’t be impacted by the movement of the dog will take the lead,” said Brian Higgins, adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, who reviewed the bodycam video. “He made a judgment call. He had opened the door and he was able to hold the dog with one had on lead and fire a shot with one hand. That’s not uncommon and it depends on the circumstance.”

Higgins, who oversaw the K-9 program as police chief in Bergen County, New Jersey, and also served as safety director in that county, said police canine handlers typically undergo a minimum of one full day of training a month to maintain their certification.

Higgins said dogs in some jurisdictions are used for tracking, but not for apprehending suspects, except in rare circumstances, because of concerns over the use of force involved with the dog biting.

“It seems as if he did everything in accordance with standard best practices today,” Higgins said. “He used the dog to lead him to the individual. There was no justification to use the dog to bite him. If you let the dog go in off-lead, there’s a good chance the dog would bite them. That would indicate to me they were not intending to use force or use as little force as possible.”

Ohio BCI investigating Near East Side police shooting of 17-year-old

Ohio BCI is also investigating another incident where a Columbus police officer fired a gun and hit a teenage suspect Saturday on the Near East Side, sending him to the hospital.

Columbus police said the 17-year-old male is in stable condition. Charges are pending against the teen, who has not been identified, and two other occupants of the car he was in.

At approximately 3:30 p.m., Columbus police officer Joshua Ohlinger and another officer made a traffic stop on a vehicle at the intersection of East Main Street and Seymour Avenue on the city’s Near East Side, Bryant said. Once the vehicle stopped, two males got out of the back seat, both of whom had firearms. Body-worn camera footage shows both men appearing to grab at their waistbands and an officer on the video can be heard yelling “gun.”

Ohlinger got out of the passenger side of the police cruiser, fired one shot and struck the 17-year-old. A gun was found in the teen’s waistband and the second person who ran was found a short time later, also in possession of a firearm.

One person who was in the vehicle after the shooting took place was also taken into custody on an unrelated warrant. The fourth occupant of the car when it was stopped was released at the scene by police.

Wedgewood Village shooting video also released

On Aug. 22, a Columbus officer fired his weapon in the city’s Hilltop neighborhood at least once, but no one was injured by the gunfire.

Bryant said Tuesday that police had been called by a 14-year-old who said that several people were at the apartments, located on the 3600 block of Eakin Road in the Wedgewood Village apartments in the Hilltop, with a firearm and the same people had been there the day before, also armed.

Officer Jacob Bomba was one of the officers that responded to the apartment complex around 8:50 p.m. that night. When officers arrived, two males ran from the back of the building toward the front. Body camera footage from Bomba shows him firing one shot as a 17-year-old male drops a firearm on the ground. The teen was not struck. The second male fled and has not been identified.

“You shot at me,” the suspect said. Two others suspects were found in the basement, Bryant said. A total of four firearms were recovered from the scene

Two men and a juvenile male were detained, and one of those detained was later transported by medics after complaining of shortness of breath.

BCI is investigating Saturday’s shooting but declined to investigate the Aug. 22 incident because no one was injured.

Ginther said the Civilian Review Board and the city’s Inspector General will review all three shooting incidents after the investigations are complete.

“No matter the ultimate conclusion, our community deserves an independent, thorough and transparent investigation by all the appropriate entities,” Hightower said.

The Saturday forum will be held so the community can begin “to answer deeply troubling questions and find a path toward healing and reconciliation,” the Urban League said.

Information on the time and location of the forum is expected to be made available by Thursday.

Read article in The Columbus Dispatch

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