St. Mary’s man shot after trying to run over officers, police chief says
The Celina Police Department provided new details Friday after a St. Mary’s man was shot and killed by an officer last month.
Watch News Center 7 beginning at 5 p.m. to watch newly released body camera footage of this incident.
Around 2:12 a.m. on August 25, Celina Police Officer David Powell was on patrol on SR-29 when he noticed an SUV parked near Eastview Park which was closed, according to Celina Police Chief Tom Wale.
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Powell parked his car near the parking lot entrance and approached the vehicle on foot. Two adults were inside of the vehicle, who were identified as Corey Andrew, 24, and Hannah Pawelski.
Wale said a strong odor of marijuana was coming from the vehicle. Celina Police Officer Justin Rice arrived on scene for assistance and asked for identification between the occupants of the vehicle about the marijuana.
Wale said Andrew refused to provide identification or hand over the marijuana cigarette which was described to be in plain sight.
Powell explained to Andrew that he would only receive a misdemeanor citation, at which point Andrew put his vehicle in gear and “accelerated suddenly and rapidly” into the grass and turned back into the parking lot, Wale said.
Wale said Powell had to jump out of the way of the vehicle.
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Both Powell and Rice ran back to the patrol cars near the exit of the park. Wale said Andrew turned back towards the officers and continued to “accelerate hard.”
The officers separated and the car came directly towards Rice.
Wale said Rice believed he could not escape and in response fired his weapon at the vehicle. Only after Rice appeared to have been struck did Andrew steer away from them, according to Wale.
Pawelski got out of the vehicle and stated that Andrew had been shot and that there was a baby in the car. Wale said officers were unaware there was a baby in the car up until this point. The baby was uninjured.
Officers began life-saving measures on Andrew until medics arrived and transported him to Mercer Health Hospital in Coldwater where he was pronounced dead.
Wale said Rice suffered serious injuries as a result of the incident, including a concussion as well as neck injuries.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation was requested to ensure a fair investigation, Wale said.
The investigation is ongoing at this time.
