COLUMBUS – Westerville’s police chief has placed two officers on administrative leave until an internal investigation into a fatal emergency room shooting is completed.
UPDATE 4/16/21: Updated to include new background information on one of the officers.
The investigation will look into whether Officers Eric Everhart and David Lammert followed proper policy and procedure during the incident at Mount Carmel St. Ann’s hospital on Monday that left 27-year-old Miles Jackson dead, Chief Charles Chandler said.
Records reportedly show that Everhart, who missed a gun during a pat-down of Jackson, had been previously encouraged to not rush his job responsibilities
Body camera footage shows Everhart conducting the pat-down on Jackson and asking if he has any weapons.
Everhart’s personnel file includes references to supervisors encouraging him to slow down and think things through.
A police union official commended Everhart’s actions as professional and compassionate.
Meanwhile, the Columbus Division of Police has released the names of two officers involved in the incident.
Police body camera footage shows a routine police pat-down of a man in a hospital emergency room erupting within minutes into a fatal police shooting after the man apparently fires a gun he had concealed in his possession.
The video shows that during an initial struggle and use of a stun gun on Jackson, a Black man, he apparently fires a gun concealed in his waistband and ends up on the hospital floor.
Police officers repeatedly tell Jackson to raise his hands over his head.
After police use a stun gun a second time, a shot is heard followed by a barrage of gunfire from Columbus officers, identified as 15-year veteran Officers Andrew Howe and Ryan Krichbaum, and reportedly at least one hospital security officer.
The episode began when Westerville officers responded to a report of a man passed out in a car Monday morning and followed paramedics as they transported the man to the hospital where they attempted to transfer custody to Columbus police.
Chandler said the Westerville Police Department’s investigation would provide “an appropriate level of accountability.”
“In incidents such as this, I must make sure the union contract is followed and there is a proper investigation conducted. The agency, our city and its citizens expect our officers to be held to a high standard and that standard will be upheld,” he said.
The department’s Internal Affairs investigation will be completed following the independent investigation by the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Chandler said.