Ohio Traffic Stop Turns Fatal After Officer Dragged

A man died last night after he was shot by a Columbus police officer who, authorities say, fired her gun into his car after she was dragged down a Hilltop alley.

The shooting occurred shortly before 8:30 p.m.

The police officer, whose name wasn't released last night, will be OK.

According to Sgt. Christine Nemchev, spokeswoman for Columbus police, the incident began when the officer pulled over a sedan in an alley just west of Woodbury Avenue near the intersection with Safford Avenue.

Nemchev didn't know why the car was being stopped.

The driver initially stopped, then drove off, dragging the officer down the alley with his car. Details of how the officer was dragged were uncertain.

Nemchev said the car hit a garage in the alley, and the officer fired her gun at the car, though Nemchev didn't know how many shots were fired. The driver was hit.

The driver was taken to Mount Carmel West hospital, where he died at 8:58 p.m. Police did not release his name last night.

The officer was taken to Riverside Methodist Hospital, where she was treated for injuries that weren't considered serious, Nemchev said.

Lee Blevins, who lives on Woodbury, said he was home at the time and initially heard a sound like an explosion when the car hit the building. Immediately after that, he heard a half-dozen gunshots.

Neighbors said that the garage the motorist hit was behind a house in the 500 block of Woodbury. The house was unoccupied.

Cheryl Young, who lives nearby on Clark Avenue, said she was sitting down to watch TV when she heard a boom outside. She ran out and saw smoke coming from the garage that the car had hit.

"I thought the house was on fire," she said.

Young then heard about a half-dozen gunshots. She said she saw the car's tires on fire.

Young said that police cruisers and a police helicopter quickly descended on the area.

Young's husband, Vallie Young, said the neighborhood typically is quiet.

"This is the biggest thing that's ever happened here," he said.

This is the seventh fatal police-involved shooting in Columbus this year, with four occurring in August.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service