Three Columbus police officers acted within policy last year when they shot two suspects in separate confrontations that occurred just days apart, a review board has determined.
Officer Thomas Pellegrini and a second officer were on bike patrol on the Near East Side on Jan. 4, 2012, when they heard shots in a nearby alley.
They came upon Raiheem S. Harris, 20, who had fired a gun in the alley after a friend asked if he wanted to try out the weapon.
Harris ran upon seeing the officers and pulled the gun from his waistband. Pellegrini shot him as he turned toward the officers while running away with the gun in his hand.
Harris was taken to Grant Medical Center, where surgeons removed one of his kidneys. He pleaded guilty this year to carrying a concealed weapon and was placed on probation for six months.
Two days later, Officers Robin Medley and Christopher Britt saw Michael J. Kelly, 36, trying to steal a catalytic converter from a vehicle near 2982 E. 14th St. on the East Side. Kelly had been under surveillance for months by the Police Division's auto-theft unit.
Kelly tried to drive away in an SUV that struck Britt, tossing him onto the hood. Both officers fired shots as Kelly kept driving with Britt on the hood. Kelly was killed. Britt was slightly injured.The Firearms Board of Inquiry, which consists of three police commanders, reviews all police-involved shootings to determine whether the officers acted within Police Division rules.
Copyright 2013 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
