COLUMBUS – People stopped by First Responders Park in Hilliard Friday morning to leave flowers in memory of a veteran officer killed in a motorcycle crash during an on-duty training exercise Thursday afternoon on the Northeast Side.
Sean Johnson, a 16-year veteran, was training to ride the motorcycle as part of the department’s traffic control unit when the accident happened just after 1:45 p.m. on the exit ramp from I-270 southbound to eastbound State Route 161, according to Hilliard police Chief Robert Fisher and Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott, whose office investigated the crash.
Fisher didn’t release details of how the crash happened.
According to a post on the police division’s Facebook page, Johnson has recently been reassigned from the patrol bureau to the newly-formed Traffic Safety Unit as a motorcycle officer. Four members of the unit were taking part in a two week training program.
Prior to becoming a Hilliard police officer, Johnson – a father of two — served with the Ohio Investigative Unit and the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, according to the division’s social media post.