Ohio Cop Shot a Journalist for Taking Photos of a Thunderstorm
(The AEGIS Alliance) – OHIO – A police officer in Clark County, Ohio, fired shots on a journalist Monday evening just following when he’d mistaken the reporter’s camera gear for weaponry.
The incident took place about 10 pm just following Andy Grimm, a photographer for the New Carlisle News who was out photographing a thunderstorm — due to pass the small town about 20 miles north of Dayton — began setting up his camera and tripod at a regional website traffic stop.
That’s when Officer Jake Shaw expelled two shots at Grimm, with one bullet striking him in the chest area, the other grazed his shoulder, according to the New York Daily News.
“I turned about from the Jeep and it seemed like immediate, I heard pop-pop,” Grimm told the newspaper. “I was just undertaking my job.”
Grimm was then taken to Miami Valley Hospital for surgery and is anticipated to make a total recovery.
According to New Carlisle News Publisher Dale Grimm, who is also the father of Andy Grimm, “He pointed out there was no warning, no ‘show me hands’ or ‘drop what you have.‘”
Dale Grimm told the Washington Post that his son was “parked beneath a light in plain view of the deputy, with a press pass about his neck.”
Grimm hopes the officer does not shed his job. “Now that I’m OK, I’m not so a lot mad,” he pointed out, “but when I was on the ground and in the back of the ambulance, I was sort of angry at him.”
He went on to say, “Until I hear [the officer’s] side, I guess I will not know what I did incorrect.”
Requests for comment have been not promptly returned. However, Clark County Sheriff Deborah Burchett has referred all issues to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which has now taken much more than an investigation into the matter.
The Washington Post is also reporting that Officer Shaw has been placed on administrative leave until the investigation is closed.
Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
