43
No dash-cam video of gunfire from Weathersfield police officer’s gun
By Ed Runyan
mineral ridge
There is no dash-cam video of the confrontation between a Weathersfield police officer and a Weathersfield resident Monday night that led to the officer firing his gun several times.
Michael J. Naples, Weathersfield Township police chief, said none of the Weathersfield police cruisers has a dash-cam, so there is no video of the incident.
The unidentified officer opened fire on Edward J. Kitt, 59, of Parkway Drive, as Kitt drove toward him and another officer on West Park Avenue in Weathersfield Township just west of Waddell Park, according to a press release from the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Southington Post.
The gunfire did not injure Kitt, but he suffered a hand laceration. He refused medical attention and was taken into custody. The two officers were not injured.
Per protocol, the officers were placed on administrative leave, Naples said in a news release Tuesday afternoon. “With the information we have at this time, their actions appear to be an appropriate response to the threat to the officers’ lives and safety.”
Kitt was released from the Trumbull County jail Tuesday morning having posted $7,500 bond after his arraignment in Niles Municipal Court on a charge of felonious assault. He was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, according to the state patrol, which is investigating, but he was not charged with that offense. Additional charges may be filed later, court officials said.
No plea was required on the felonious-assault charge. Kitt returns to court at 9:15 a.m. next Wednesday. If convicted, he could get 10 years in prison.
The patrol reported that the incident began at 9:17 p.m. as the officers were conducting a traffic stop on West Park just east of Parkway Drive.
“While they were outside of their patrol cars, conducting business with the driver, they observed a van, traveling westbound, approaching their cars. The van struck the rear of one of their patrol cars and then continued, without stopping,” the patrol said in its press release.
“As the van continued in their direction, the officers stated that the driver of the van nearly struck one of the officers, forcing him to jump out of the path of the van. The other officer opened fire on the van.”
The incident remains under investigation, according to the patrol, which also investigated another shooting involving Weathersfield officers last year — one involving a fatality.
Patrolman Daniel Lowery fired about 10 times into a stolen Cadillac along state Route 11 in Liberty Township Sept. 26 after a trooper with the highway patrol used stop sticks to stop Dempsey as he fled south in the Cadillac.
Dempsey pulled the vehicle to the side of Route 11 with two flat tires as numerous police cars from Weathersfield, the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office and highway patrol surrounded him.
Lowery and other officers closed in on Dempsey on foot as Dempsey produced a handgun and placed it to his head, then lowered it toward his chin. That movement made Lowery believe Dempsey might fire in the direction of fellow Weathersfield Patrolman Kris Hodge, so Lowery fired at Dempsey, according to investigative reports.
Lowery, who repeatedly told Dempsey, “Show me your hands,” was cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting by Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins.