Prosecutor says Dempsey shooting by Weathersfield officer was justified

Fatal Shooting of Cody Dempsey

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Dennis Watkins talks during a press conference at his office Thursday at which he announced that the Weathersfield Township police officer who shot and killed Cody Dempsey along state Route 11 near Tibbetts Wick Road was justified in firing the fatal shots.

WARREN

The Trumbull County prosecutor will not present the shooting death of Cody Dempsey to a Trumbull County grand jury because when officer Daniel Lowery of the Weathersfield Township Police Department fired at Dempsey, he was justified.

“Cody Dempsey alone is responsible for his tragic end,” Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said in a lengthy statement he released to the news media this afternoon.

“After being stopped and receiving repeated requests by several officers to put his hands up and exit the vehicle, Dempsey, after having committed a cavalcade of criminal offenses, physically, actively and aggressively continued to resist his arrest and in fact escalated his resistance to any peaceful arrest,” the statement said.

Dempsey, 25, of Kinsman, died shortly after the shooting, which occurred on state Route 11 near the Tibbetts-Wick Road interchange Sept. 26.