COLUMBUS – A Columbus Division of Police internal investigation has cleared two officers of wrongdoing in the shooting death of a man on a Linden street nearly two years ago.
The death of Henry Green resulted in protests and indirectly led to the end of an anti-street crime initiative.
Deputy Chief Thomas Quinlan, commander of the North Sub-Division of the patrol unit ruled that Officer Jason Bare and former Officer Zach Rosen were found within Division policy when they shot Green on June 6, 2016, after confronting him while on patrol in plain-clothes.
A grand jury voted not to indict the officers after some witnesses supported the officers’ account that Green fired first and that the officers were justified in returning fire, while others testified that it was an intentional shooting, without justification, according to a report in the Columbus Dispatch at the time.
Bare and Rosen were patrolling in plain-clothes and in an unmarked SUV in the area of Ontario Street and Duxberry Avenue shortly after 6:00 p.m. when they saw Green and another man standing on the street corner, according to a division release.
A man later identified as Green, 23, was holding a gun and a witness told police Bare and Rosen got out of the vehicle with their badges displayed and ordered the man to drop his gun, police said.
Green ignored the commands and opened fire on the officers who returned fire, hitting Green seven times, according to an autopsy report. Green died later at Grant Medical Center, police said.
No other injuries were reported.
A handgun was recovered at the scene.
The officers said Green raised his weapon toward their vehicle before they got out, the newspaper reported.
After the grand jury returned it decision last March, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien told the Dispatch that Green fired six shots during the incident, Bare fired seven and Rosen fired 15.
Outrage over the killing of Green and 13-year-old Tyre King later the same year was believed to have led to Mayor Andrew Ginther’s decision last fall to end the city’s summer-safety initiative in which officers target high-crime areas.
Bare and Rosen were taking part in such a patrol when the shooting occurred.
Rosen was later fired from the police force for appearing to stomp a handcuffed suspect in an incident captured on cell phone video. He is appealing the decision.
The family of Henry Green has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.