Outrage After Ohio Cop Kills Unarmed Black Man Donovan Lewis in Bed

An unarmed 20-year-old Black man died Tuesday a Columbus officer shot him in the middle of the night while lying in bed—the third police shooting in Ohio’s largest city in about a week.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Columbus Police Department (CPD) released over 24 minutes of bodycam video footage showing officers going to an apartment building in the 3200 block of Sullivant Avenue to serve a felony warrant for Donovan Lewis.

The video shows officers knocking on an apartment door for more than eight minutes before a man answers, and police arrest him. Officers then detain another man inside the apartment and ask if anyone else is in the residence before warning that they would unleash a police dog.

In the footage, the dog runs to a bedroom door barking before Officer Ricky Anderson, its handler, cracks open the door and almost immediately fires a single shot from his pistol as a startled Lewis sits up in bed.

Officers are heard shouting “hands” and “come on out” at nearly the precise moment Anderson fires his gun. Lewis, who can be heard moaning in pain as he lay dying, was then commanded to “put your hands behind your back now” and “stop resisting” as he is handcuffed and subsequently carried out of the apartment.

WCMH reports medics took Lewis to Grant Medical Center in critical condition. He was pronounced dead at 3:19 am.

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said during a Tuesday press conference that Anderson shot Lewis when he appeared to raise his hand with something in it. That “something,” said Bryant, “was, like, a vape pen that was found on the bed next to him.”

“Every day, officers are put in compromising potentially life-threatening situations in which we are required to make split-second decisions,” the chief explained. “As the chief, it is my job to hold my officers accountable, but it’s also my job to offer them support.”

Lewis’ killing comes less than two years after then-Columbus Officer Adam Coy fatally shot unarmed 47-year-old Black man Andre Hill in the garage of a friend’s home while responding to a nonemergency disturbance complaint.

“After the shooting of Donovan Lewis, Ma’Khia Bryant, and many others it’s clear that Columbus police think that they are the judge, jury, and executioner. It’s time that this police department is held accountable,” tweeted Erick Bellomy, whose father was killed during a shooting inside his home.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.