The Ohio police officer who shot and killed a Black man in his home last summer while he lay in bed is no longer working for the department.
According to Columbus police, Officer Ricky Anderson “retired in bad standing due to the ongoing criminal and administrative investigations into the death of Donovan Lewis.”
After leaving the police force, an officer who retires in bad standing will receive a pension but cannot keep their badges or guns.
In the early morning hours of Aug. 30, Lewis, 20, died from his injuries at a hospital.
Police body camera footage from Aug. 30 shows Lewis, who was laying in bed, being shot once in the abdomen immediately after an officer opened the door to his bedroom.
Lewis' family attorneys called Anderson's announcement of his retirement "cowardly," especially since they have repeatedly called for his termination.
“This family deserves so much better,” the attorneys said in a statement, saying city leaders have “poorly handled this totally unnecessary killing” and vowed to be “steadfast in our pursuit of justice.”
Prosecutors in Franklin County have announced that the state attorney general's investigation will be reviewed by special prosecutors, who will then present the case to a grand jury for approval of charges. As prosecutors said last month, reviewing the use of force by law enforcement can be time-consuming, and they sympathized with the family's frustration, but they were “dedicated to achieving justice in this matter.”
Lewis died almost two years after Columbus police Officer Adam Coy was terminated after he shot and killed Andre Hill, a 47-year-old Black man. The city of Columbus settled with Hill's family for $10 million in May 2021. A month earlier, Columbus police officer Nicholas Reardon shot and killed 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant, a Black teenage girl; the officer has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, prosecutors announced in March 2022.
Like all police departments in America, the Columbus Police Department operates on anti-Black violence via their abuse of power. They need to properly hold their officers accountable for killing Donovan Lewis in cold blood as he lay in his bed, as well as Andre Hill and Ma'Khia Bryant.
Source: NBC News
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