Probe shows shooting by deputy was justifiable

WARREN — The late 2007 shooting death of a 48-year-old Mecca Township man by a Trumbull County deputy sheriff was justified and does not require a grand jury inquiry, the county prosecutor says.

“It is a textbook example of justifiable homicide by a police officer responding to a call and doing his duty while at the same time risking his own safety and life to protect all of us,” Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said Thursday of the actions of Deputy Anthony Diehl.

Watkins’ opinion was reached in the Dec. 22, 2007, death of John W. McGrath after an investigation by him and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.

The investigation does not differ from information released by Sheriff Thomas Altiere after the shooting, but does add details.

Read more in Friday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com