An Ohio police officer ran over a man who called 911 after being shot. A grand jury said his 'death was tragic, but not criminal'

Advertisement
An Ohio police officer ran over a man who called 911 after being shot. A grand jury said his 'death was tragic, but not criminal'
A stock image of a police crime scene.Milan Markovic/Getty Images
  • Eric Cole was fatally run over by an Ohio police officer responding to his 911 call.
  • Cole was lying in the middle of the street when officer Amanda Rosales hit him with her car.
Advertisement

A grand jury declined to indict a police officer who ran over an Ohio man last year while he was lying in the middle of a road with a gunshot wound.

A Clark County grand jury declined to indict Springfield police officer Amanda Rosales in the death of Eric Cole, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The grand jury determined that the incident surrounding Mr. Cole's death was tragic, but not criminal," Yost said.

According to an investigation from the attorney general's office, Rosales was responding to a 911 call from Cole on June 13, 2021, when she hit him while driving at 17 mph. Cole had a gunshot wound in his left arm.

Rosales said she felt she hit something but didn't know it was a person until she got out of the car and began administering aid.

Advertisement

According to the investigative documents, Cole had previously gone to a home where an unnamed woman who had just broken up with him usually hangs out. He had threatened to shoot up the place after being angry about the breakup. The ex-girlfriend accused him of abuse.

However, officials said that when Cole arrived at the house, he was told his ex-girlfriend wasn't there. He shot at the house in a drive-by and a resident fired back, hitting Cole in the arm.

Cole, who was driving a borrowed car, drove off to return the car, then changed out of his hoodie and got rid of his gun, and called 911. Rosales responded, according to the investigative documents.

"Basically he went out in the night in question and created his own personal Wild West," Yost said at a press conference on Wednesday.

It's unclear why Cole was lying in the middle of the street. However, he did tell the 911 dispatcher that he was in the middle of the street but that information was not relayed to Rosales, Yost said.

Advertisement

Officials said a toxicology report found cocaine and alcohol in his system. Yost said Rosales and the officers who responded after her did not tell EMTs who arrived on the scene that Cole had been hit by a car.

Rosales is still on administrative leave as the attorney general's office conducts an internal investigation.

{{}}