Former Ohio officer accepts plea in 2022 shooting death of Black man
FILE - The girlfriend of Donovan Lewis holds a picture of him during a rally at the Columbus Division of Police Headquarters on Sept. 2, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gaelen Morse/Getty Images)
Ricky Anderson, the former Ohio officer who fatally shot a Black man lying in bed, has pleaded guilty to reckless homicide.
Anderson is pleading guilty to the lesser of two charges he faced for the shooting.
Anderson enters Alford plea
Dig deeper:
Anderson entered an Alford plea, which means he acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence to support a conviction without admitting guilt.
In exchange, the state agreed to drop a murder charge.
What happened?
The backstory:
Anderson was a K-9 officer with the Columbus Police Department when he shot Donovan Lewis, 20, in August 2022.
Police have said officers went to Lewis’ apartment around 2 a.m. that morning to arrest him on multiple warrants, including for domestic violence, assault and felony improper handling of a firearm.
An attorney for Lewis’ family has said body-camera footage appears to show Anderson firing within a second of opening the bedroom door where Lewis was sleeping. The family has a pending civil suit against the former officer.
Big picture view:
The U.S. Justice Department agreed in 2021 to review Columbus Police Department practices after a series of fatal police shootings of Black people — including the April 2021 killing of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant — and the city’s response to racial injustice protests in 2020.
What's next:
Anderson will be sentenced at a later date. His sentence could range from probation to three years in prison, defense attorney Mark Collins said.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from The Associated Press.