COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A former K-9 officer has been indicted in Ohio on murder charges in the death of a Black man who was lying on his bed when he was shot by police trying to serve a warrant.
Former Columbus police officer Ricky Anderson was also charged Friday with reckless homicide by a county grand jury in the August 2022 death of 20-year-old Donovan Lewis.
A lawyer for the victim’s family — who earlier called the shooting “barbaric” — said the family was relieved but questioned why it took nearly a year to bring charges against Anderson, who is white. Bodycam footage appears to show that the shooting happened within a second or less of Anderson opening the door to a bedroom where Lewis was sleeping.
“We are relieved that a grand jury concluded what we’ve known all along: Officer Ricky Anderson broke the law when he shot and killed an unarmed Donovan Lewis as he laid in his bed. CPD (Columbus Police Department) bodycam video showed this clearly and nothing has changed in almost a year,” lawyer Rex Elliott said in a statement.
Elliott had earlier questioned why the city had not addressed the broader issue of white officers killing Black civilians.
“How many more lives are going to be lost to this type of reckless activity? How many more young Black lives will be lost?” he asked at a press conference with Lewis’ family last year.
Anderson’s defense lawyer, Mark C. Collins, said the grand jury did not have the full picture of the facts, but only a “dog-and-pony show … controlled by the special prosecutors.”
“This case is not about if Ricky Anderson made the decision to use deadly force, but why he made the decision to use deadly force. As we progress through litigation, the evidence will show that it was because he was justified in doing so,” Collins said Friday in a statement.
Elliott had earlier criticized the speed of the shooting and suggestions by the police chief that Lewis had something in his hand when he was shot. No weapon was found.
“There is absolutely no way in the timeframe between when the door was opened and the gun was fired that Officer Anderson perceived a potential gun in his hand, got through to his brain, and then reacted by shooting his weapon,” Elliott said.
Columbus police say officers had gone to the apartment around 2 a.m. to arrest Lewis on multiple warrants including domestic violence, assault and felony improper handling of a firearm. Police took two other men in the apartment into custody without incident. A police dog was unleashed in the apartment during the search.
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