COLUMBUS – The actions of two Columbus police officers who wounded the man known as the ”Buckeye Bandit” during a pursuit over a year ago have been upheld by a departmental review panel.
The Columbus Division of Police Firearms/Police-Involved Death Review Board determined that Lt. Eric David and Sgt. James Sheehan acted within the division’s policy on the use of firearms in the Oct. 21, 2016, shooting of Ikechi Emeaghara following a robbery and vehicle pursuit on the Northwest Side, division spokesman Sgt. Dean Worthington said.
Emeaghara was suspected of approximately 30 holdups in the Central Ohio area dating back to 2013, earning him the nickname “Buckeye Bandit.”
Officers investigating an armed robbery at the Key Bank located at 5775 Frantz Road located Emeaghara, 27, in a black SUV stopped in nearby traffic and approached the vehicle on foot but Emeaghara drove away, Worthington said.
After a short vehicle-pursuit officers stopped Emeaghara at a business park at 4650 Lakehurst Court. According to witnesses, Worthington says Emeaghara got out of the vehicle and raised a gun toward officers and that was when David and Sheehan fired multiple shots.
Emeaghara was treated at Grant Medical Center and released and was charged with one federal county of armed bank robbery.
A weapons was recovered at the scene, Worthington said.