Coroner: Niles man died from gunshots to chest

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

NILES

The Trumbull County Coroner’s office has ruled that Matthew S. Burroughs, 35, died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and that his death is a homicide.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted Burroughs’ autopsy, and the results were supplied to the Trumbull coroner’s office so that it could issue the ruling.

Niles police shot Burroughs multiple times Wednesday afternoon in his car at the Royal Mall apartments in Niles. Witnesses have described hearing about five gunshots, but authorities have not disclosed the actual number.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations revealed Friday that Burroughs did not have a gun in the car with him, but the agency is still trying to determine whether he was using his car as a weapon when he was shot, BCI spokeswoman Jill Del Greco said.

The Niles Police Department has turned over police body-camera video to BCI, Del Greco confirmed Monday, but she would not comment on how many body-camera videos or other videos they received, such as from surveillance cameras.

When asked whether BCI investigators have interviewed Niles officers involved, Del Greco said she could not comment, but she provided The Vindicator with a BCI guide that explains the process when BCI investigates “officer-involved critical incidents.”

The guide says BCI “generally waits two days (or two sleep cycles) after the incident to conduct a formal interview. In rare circumstances, a walk through the scene or a brief, voluntary statement from the involved officer may be necessary in order to provide for public safety or locate scenes.”

The booklet says an officer may or may not be read his Miranda rights before being interviewed. But in all cases, the officer will be advised that the investigation is criminal, not internal, and that his or her participation in the interview is voluntary.

“It is preferred that, to the extent possible, officers and witnesses not be permitted to view recordings of the incident until after a formal, untainted interview has taken place,” the booklet says.

One reason for this is that it is important “to fully understand and explore what the officer subjectively believed the circumstances and actions to be from his or her perspective, prior to confusing those beliefs with what the video may show.”

It says this view is required under a U.S. Supreme Court decision related to such matters.

The BCI public information officer generally does not release the names of the officers involved, “though the [police department involved] may decide to do so.”

Two Niles officers are on paid administrative leave per protocol for officer-involved shootings, the Niles Police Department says. It has not released their names. Cellphone videos shot by citizens appear to show about five officers surrounding Burroughs’ car just after the shots were fired.

Meanwhile, Annette McCoy, president of the Trumbull County chapter of the NAACP, said the “five points” she made in a Sunday news release are “standard [NAACP] protocol” across the nation for officer-involved shootings.

Among the points she made are that the NAACP wants a “credible investigation into the incident,” wants a “civilian review board with subpoena power,” and for the U.S. Department of Justice “to launch a full criminal and ‘pattern and practice’ investigation into the shooting and other complaints within the Niles Police Department.”

McCoy said she does not know whether the Niles Police Department has a poor track record for citizen complaints and does not know whether the department has given its officers diversity training, but the NAACP will be looking into those things.

McCoy said she has met with people close to Burroughs, as “due diligence at this time until the results” of the BCI investigation are released.

The NAACP will review the results “to make further recommendations” as part of a “very formal process,” she said.

McCoy said she does not know whether any community officer-involved-shooting review committees across the country has ever achieved the goal of having subpoena power.

After calls and an email from The Vindicator early Monday, Niles Mayor Steve Mientkiewicz said late Monday his office will release a statement today regarding the NAACP news release.