A Springfield, Ohio, man has died after reportedly being shot by an assailant and then accidentally struck by a police cruiser that was responding to the scene, according to officials.
The Springfield Police Department said several officers were dispatched to Center Boulevard late on Sunday night after reports that someone had been shot, including a 911 call from the victim, who is Black. When the first officer arrived they were « involved in an accident with the shooting victim, later identified as Eric Eugene Cole, » Springfield police said in a statement Tuesday. « The victim was lying in the street when he was struck by a marked cruiser as the officer arrived on scene in emergency response, » the department said in the statement. « This was an accident, that doesn’t mean it’s OK. It was an accident. This was not an intentional act on the part of the officer, I’m sure of that, » Springfield Police Chief Lee Graf said during a Wednesday news conference. Graf said the responding officer, Amanda Rosales, « was trying to catch the addresses on the house » when she was responding to the call. The department released two dashcam videos that show Rosales’ car coming up to Cole,42, around 11:22 p.m. « Eric was lying in the street, you can see from the videos, and the officer did not see him and struck him with their vehicle, » Graf said. Graf says he wanted to make it clear that he believes this was an accident and not an intentional act by the officer. « That camera focuses where it’s pointed. It is not an indicator of what the officer is seeing.
