Officer involved in shooting named

Columbus police on Friday identified Nicholas Mason as the officer who fatally shot a suspect during a traffic stop Wednesday on the South Side.

It was the city’s eighth officer-involved shooting this year and the fourth fatal shooting.

Officer Mason, 31, who has worked for the Columbus Division of Police for 10 years, was trying to remove 32-year-old Jason T. Christian from a Honda Civic at a Mobil gas station on Lockbourne Road at Parsons Avenue.

Christian had an open warrant for his arrest after violating terms of a guilty plea for receiving stolen property from a February 2016 case.

Police said officers approached Christian and told him he was under arrest. That’s when Christian hit the accelerator and dragged Mason alongside the car. The officer fired his gun multiple times, striking Christian. Both fell to the pavement as the Civic continued to roll over a curb and into an air machine and fence.

Christian was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Mason suffered abrasions on his arms and legs and suffered an arm injury.

“If you don’t comply, that can have deadly consequences,” Sgt. Rich Weiner, a police spokesman, said after the incident.

Mason’s actions will be reviewed by the Firearms Review Board and the case will go before a Franklin County grand jury. Mason remains off duty until he is cleared to come back to work.

There were six fatal officer-involved shootings in 2016.