Atop hood of moving vehicle that hit him, Columbus police sergeant shoots female driver
A Columbus police sergeant who was struck by a woman driver shot her from atop the hood Wednesday afternoon as an attempted traffic stop for a stolen car escalated into violence near the intersection of East Dublin-Granville Road (Route 161) and Huntley and Sinclair roads on the city's North Side.
The male sergeant who was struck by the vehicle was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, Downtown, in stable condition with potential broken bones. The woman driving the suspected stolen vehicle was taken in serious condition to OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital for treatment of her gunshot injuries.
The name of the woman suspect was not released Wednesday, and the name of the sergeant likely will not be released as the Columbus Division of Police considers officers injured in such situations to be victims whose names do not have to be released.
Columbus police said in a news release that officers were dispatched shortly after 3:20 p.m. Wednesday to the 1700 block of East Dublin Granville Road on a report of a stolen vehicle in the area. A caller told dispatchers they had seen someone driving their blue 2015 Toyota Camry, which was stolen from Lancaster in Fairfield County, along East Dublin-Granville Road.
Responding officers witnessed a car matching the provided description driving in the area and followed it, police said, attempting to stop the car in the area of Beechcroft Road and Clintonview Street north of Route 161 near Sharon Woods Boulevard. But the woman driver failed to stop and fled the area.
Officers broke off following the vehicle a short time later, police said.
At 3:51p.m., officers radioed dispatch that they had located the car in the parking lot of a Sheetz in the 900 block of East Dublin-Granville Road. The woman, apparently seeing police, drove off westbound on East Dublin-Granville Road.
Minutes later, police said the woman drove into the parking lot of the Huntley Square shopping center on the northeast side of the East Dublin-Granville and Huntley intersection and began driving erratically around the lot. Officers deployed stop sticks in an attempt to stop the car.
While in the parking lot, police allege that the woman suspect put the car in reverse, then drove forward abruptly and struck a police sergeant who was on foot in the lot.
Police said the woman continued driving through the parking lot with the sergeant on the hood. The sergeant then fired his gun "several times," according to police, striking the driver. But the woman continued driving, leaving the shopping center parking lot through a grassy area, where the sergeant fell off the vehicle, police said.
The sergeant was later taken to Grant Medical Center for treatment.
The female driver, meanwhile, fled eastbound in the westbound lanes of East Dublin-Granville Road toward Interstate 71, police said. As she approached the entrance ramp of I-71 north, she crashed head-on into two vehicles, police said.
That's when officers took the woman into custody, rendering medical aid for her gunshot injuries until medics arrived and transported her in serious condition to OhioHealth Riverside, police said.
Police said occupants of the two vehicles struck by the woman with the reported stolen car were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
The Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation was called to the scene to investigate, as they are in any officer-involved shooting in Columbus. Dominic Binkley, deputy press secretary for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, said the office had no additional comment beyond confirming they are investigating the incident.
East Dublin-Granville Road remained close to traffic for several hours for about a mile or so from I-71 west through the other side of the Huntley-Sinclair roads intersection, along with the approaches to the intersection on those roads and the exit ramps from I-71 exit onto East-Dublin Granville. Dispatchers said that officers started letting traffic flow on westbound East Dublin-Granville from I-71 just after 9:40 p.m.
Crime scene tape was in place in several locations, including red tape at a Speedway on the southeast corner of the East Dublin-Granville and Sinclair and Huntley roads intersection, with the station only open to foot traffic at least through 9 p.m.
On the north side of the intersection near the Mark Wahlberg Quick Service, an Ohio BCI mobile crime scene unit was parked, and investigators were out looking over the scene.
@ShahidMeighan
smeighan@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus police sergeant, struck by vehicle, shoots female driver
