May 12--DAYTON -- A Trotwood police sergeant involved in the April 14 shooting outside Leo's II nightspot told investigators that he may have shot a Dayton undercover officer during the pursuit of a suspect, according to a police report the Dayton Daily News obtained Friday.
Both the suspect and the Dayton officer were seriously wounded.
Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer, whose office is handling the investigation, said Friday the report obtained by the newspaper is factual.
"We believe he (the sergeant) may have shot the officer, but we may never know for certain,'' Plummer said.
The sheriff said not all of the physical evidence has been found. "One bullet may never be recovered,'' he said. He declined further comment on the evidence.
According to the Trotwood officer's report, shortly after the shooting, Sgt. William Moore "approached me and advised, 'I think I shot the officer.' I asked what happened and he stated 'I saw a guy with a gun and shooting. I think I shot him.' "
Trotwood officers were called to the bar at 4155 Salem Ave. around 1:30 a.m. April 14 on a report of a disturbance in the parking lot.
An officer spotted an armed suspect in the parking lot and gave chase when the suspect fled. Moore and the undercover detective, who was working with the FBI's Safe Streets Task Force that had the bar under surveillance, joined the pursuit, which ended with the detective and the suspect shot in front of an abandoned cellphone store.
Both the suspect and the detective have been released from the hospital and are recovering.
Moore, a night supervisor, remains on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
In the most recent report, Officer Mitchell Davis said that after the shooting, he escorted Sgt. Moore to the closest Trotwood cruiser. He instructed another officer to take Moore to the Trotwood police department and to wait with the sergeant.
Cochran was wounded in the arm and eventually released from Miami Valley Hospital and taken to the county jail. A grand jury indicted Cochran on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and resisting arrest. He was released from jail May 1 on $15,000 bond and is on electronic home detention.
The detective, whom the Daily News is not identifying because of his undercover duties, was shot in the upper torso. Authorities have declined to say where the detective was wounded.
Plummer said his investigators have met with prosecutors and expect to meet again next month. The sheriff said there were a number of witnesses to be interviewed, including the two victims. "Both of the victims were under medication so we needed to wait ... .," he said.
Plummer said the unauthorized release of the latest police report in "no way hinders" his office's investigation.
According to the original incident report obtained last month through the state's open records law, the first uniformed Trotwood officer on the scene, Officer Paul Barnes, spotted an armed man in the parking lot. The officer yelled "gun, gun, gun" to alert other officers arriving on the scene. He also demanded the man show his hands. That report also stated that the suspect, Deontay Cochran, 21, "turned and looked at me and immediately began to run with the gun still in his hand." Barnes chased Cochran through the chaotic parking lot. He also "heard something hitting the pavement. I quickly looked down on the ground and saw there was a gun laying there," Barnes wrote in the original report. A semiautomatic pistol was recovered at the scene.
He temporarily stopped his pursuit until two Moonlight Security guards showed up "approximately two or three seconds later."
Barnes advised them to stay with the weapon as he continued pursuit, "believing that he (Cochran) still had a weapon."
According to his report, Barnes spotted Sgt. Moore, who was closer to Cochran than Barnes. Barnes again yelled, "gun, gun, gun," and pointed toward the fleeing Cochran as Moore joined the pursuit.
Barnes wrote he lost sight of Moore and Cochran when his view was blocked by a large pickup truck alongside a vacant cellphone store. It was then, Barnes wrote, he heard a shot. Once Barnes rounded the truck, "I saw Sgt. Moore standing ... and I saw unknown white male laying in the parking lot and the suspect I was chasing also laying in the parking lot." Law enforcement officials have said both Moore and the detective, who has not been identified, fired at Cochran.
The FBI has said Cochran was not the target of the surveillance.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2290 or [email protected].
Copyright 2012 - Dayton Daily News, Ohio
