Second man who shot firework at officers in Downtown protest gets prison sentence
A Columbus man who fired a commercial-grade firework toward a group of Columbus police officers during a late May 2020 protest and riot Downtown was sentenced Tuesday to at least three years in prison for the incident.
Romell W. Whiteside Jr., 20, of the West Side, pleaded guilty Tuesday to felonious assault, a second-degree felony, as part of a plea deal with the Franklin County Prosecutor's office. In exchange, prosecutors dropped felony rioting and arson charges.
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In two unrelated cases, Whiteside also pleaded guilty Tuesday to carrying a concealed weapon in September 2020 and attempted burglary in June 2021. He was sentenced to 11 months in prison in the first case and two years in the second case.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Kimberly Cocroft handed down the sentences to be served consecutively, giving Whiteside a minimum total sentence of 5 years and 11 months in prison with a maximum sentence of 7 years and five months.
Whiteside was among hundreds of people who protested Downtown on the night of May 28, 2020, after the murder of George Floyd Jr. three days earlier at the hands of then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
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Another man, Brandon L. Pack, fired several fireworks at the officers that night, according to Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Jason Manning. Pack had difficulty lighting the last firework and Whiteside, who did not know Pack, helped light it, sending it generally toward the officers, Manning said.
Numerous officers were injured as a result of Pack's actions, including hearing loss and burns, but the firework set off by Whiteside did not come close to anybody, Manning said.
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Pack, 26, of the South Side, was sentenced in November to at least eight years in prison for three counts of felonious assault and one count each of aggravated rioting, vandalism and breaking and entering.
Jordan Laird is a criminal justice reporter at the Columbus Dispatch. You can reach her at jlaird@dispatch.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @LairdWrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus man who shot firework at police during protest sentenced
