COLUMBUS – Two Columbus police officers who fired their weapons during a 2016 standoff with a suspect who had fatally shot a SWAT officer have been cleared by a Division of Police review of their actions.
The Firearms/Police-Involved Death Review Board ruled that the actions of Ofc. Glenn Thivener and Lt. Paul Ohl during the April 10, 2016, incident fell within the division’s Use of Firearms Policy.
Thivener and Ohl were among the officers on the scene when SWAT officer Steven Smith was killed by Lincoln Rutledge while police tried to serve a felony arrest warrant on Rutledge, 44, at his 14 W. California Avenue apartment.
Rutledge is serving a life sentence for Smith’s slaying.
Rutledge remained barricaded in the apartment and kept officers at bay for hours before surrendering and being transported to Riverside Methodist Hospital in non-life-threatening condition with a gunshot wound and smoke inhalation suffered when he set the home on fire during the standoff.