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Trumbull prosecutor says Weathersfield officer was justified in shooting Kinsman man to death
Fatal Shooting of Cody Dempsey
Video
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.
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The dash-cam video from a highway patrolman’s cruiser shows how quickly Cody Dempsey’s life — and flight from police — ended Sept. 26.
The video was released Thursday by Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins as he announced that the police officer who fired the shots that killed Dempsey would not face charges. It shows that Dempsey had barely pulled to the side of the road with flat tires when Officer Daniel Lowery of the Weathersfield Police Department started firing.
About 10 seconds passed between Dempsey’s stopping the stolen Cadillac and the sound of gunshots.
The video doesn’t show the confrontation between Lowery and Dempsey, 25, of Hartford, but Watkins described it in a 21-page news release.
Kris Hodge of the Weathersfield police was one of the first officers to reach Dempsey’s driver’s-side door after the Cadillac stopped.
“As Officer Hodge was approaching, he observed Dempsey pull up a gun in his right hand and put the gun to his right temple,” the release says.
“Officer Hodge then saw Dempsey turn his head to the left. Officer Hodge and Dempsey made eye contact. Officer Hodge stated at this point he began to retreat to his patrol car for cover while yelling ‘Gun! Gun! Gun!’ That is when he heard shots,” the release says.
Lowery, a 10-year veteran, approached from the front driver’s side and was 8 to 10 feet from the driver’s door, giving numerous commands to Dempsey to “show me your hands.”
Dempsey “sat motionless in the driver’s seat looking straight ahead,” which made Lowery think Dempsey was giving up, the prosecutor said. Lowery saw Dempsey put a handgun to his head, and saw Dempsey look from Hodge to Lowery, then lower the gun from his head to his chin “and then brought the gun to a position where he was pointing it at Officer Hodge.”
“That’s when I decided I am shooting,” Lowery said. He fired eight times into the Cadillac. Six of them hit Dempsey in the chest, according to the report from the Mahoning County Coroner’s Office.
“Lowery told investigators he shot Dempsey because he believed Dempsey was going to shoot Officer Hodge,” the prosecutor said.
Lowery also is a lieutenant for the Weathersfield Township Fire Department, and he had a medical kit in his cruiser and administered first aid to Dempsey, the release says.
The confrontation occurred along state Route 11 in Liberty Township about a half mile south of Tibbetts-Wick Road after an Ohio State Highway patrolman placed stop sticks on the road to flatten the Cadillac’s tires.
Numerous police officers were pursuing the Cadillac after a detective with the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office spotted it on state Route 88 near state Route 5. Detective Michael Yannucci was looking for the vehicle because it had been reported stolen earlier that morning from Burghill Auto Salvage.
Watkins’ release described Dempsey’s last hours as being full of anger and frustration as he argued with two friends, including his former girlfriend, at the Orangeville Tavern early Sept. 26.
Dempsey called Danielle Hall, who broke up with him several days earlier, and berated her on her voice mail. “I am done with you,” he said in a profanity-laced tirade.
About 11 a.m., while Yannucci was pursuing Dempsey in the Cadillac, Dempsey left Hall another voice mail, saying: “I am going to jail, but they are probably going to kill me. Anyway, love ya.”
Investigators determined that the gun Dempsey possessed was a 10-millimeter that was stolen early Sept. 26 from an unlocked vehicle parked at a residence near the salvage yard, the release says.
Lowery fired his gun several times, with some of the shots hitting Dempsey, who also fired his gun one time in a downward angle into the floorboard of the Cadillac. That shot had to have occurred before any of the shots Lowery fired, the release says.
One of the shots Lowery fired hit Dempsey’s hand and Dempsey’s gun, rendering it inoperable, Watkins said.
Dempsey’s autopsy revealed that he had opiate pain pills in his system, oxycodone and oxymorphine, and THC from marijuana.
A truck driver who was behind the nine police vehicles when the shooting occurred said the officers “were justified in their actions.”
Watkins summed up the investigation by saying that “under the totality of known objective facts and circumstances ... Officer Daniel Lowery shot Cody Dempsey because he had a bona fide belief that he and other officers were in imminent danger of great bodily harm or death and the reasonable course for him was to use his firearm in self-defense.”
“Cody Dempsey alone is responsible for his tragic end,” he said.
Attorney David Engler, who is representing the Dempsey family, said he plans to have a news conference Friday after he has had time to review the 900 pages of documents and numerous DVDs that he obtained from Watkins on Thursday. The highway patrol conducted the investigation.
A statement released Thursday by Weathersfield Police Chief Michael Naples Jr. says the department extends its thoughts and prayers “to all the families who were affected by the incident.”