A man who got out of his car with a gun in his hand during a traffic stop Monday was shot by the Columbus police sergeant who had pulled him over, police said.
Orlando Smith, 27, of the South Side, was in stable condition in OhioHealth Grant Medical Center last night and is expected to survive. He was taken to Grant after the 11:04 a.m. shooting in an alley just east of the Nationwide Children's Hospital parking garage at Mooberry and S. 18th streets on the South Side.
The sergeant was not injured, and police did not release his name.
Sgt. Rich Weiner, a police spokesman, gave the following account:
The sergeant radioed at 11:03 a.m. that he was pulling over a traffic violator in an alley that runs south from Mooberry Street in his regularly assigned area.
Within about 30 seconds, the sergeant aired that shots had been fired and a suspect was down, prompting an "officer-in-trouble" call that sent police officers throughout the area rushing to his aid.
The sergeant had left his cruiser and was walking up to the stopped car when Smith got out with a gun and walked toward the sergeant. Additional details of the brief encounter have not been pinned down, Weiner said.
Mooberry Street resident Massie Lawson said she heard eight or nine gunshots.
"The sirens were immediately after the gunshots," she said.
A gun was found near Smith's car, Weiner said.
He said Smith was wanted on an arrest warrant for not paying about $200 in a traffic case from last year.
Court records show that Smith has a criminal history that includes a 2007 conviction for felony drug possession.
Copyright 2013 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
