COLUMBUS – The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has turned the findings of investigations into the fatal shootings of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant and a 43-year-old man to the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney.
It is standard procedure for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation to refer its findings to a prosecuting attorney, which then forwards them to the police agencies involved and decides whether to pursue criminal charges against the officers involved.
Bryant was shot to death on April 21 by a Columbus police officer during an incident on Legion Lane.
Andrew Teague was fatally shot March 8 by Columbus officers and Franklin County sheriff’s deputies on I-270 on the Walnut Creek Bridge on the Southeast Side following a pursuit and wrong-way crash.
BCI is notifying the public of these developments in an effort to be transparent as possible while “respecting the competing needs for legal due process,” attorney general Dave Yost said.
BCI investigations into officer-involved incidents do not include any determinations of fault, which Yost says is left to be determined by the prosecutor or a grand jury.