Fleeing teen runs into ‘ brick wall’ cop
A15-year-old burglary suspect had a setback after a break-in last week.
The teen was fleeing from the back of a Franklinton home after police were called by the homeowner who witnessed the break-in via his camera alarm at 12:16 p.m. on Thursday.
His accomplice fled and was able to run away. The teen exited through a privacy gate and ran smack into a Columbus police sergeant, who swiftly took him into custody.
“Unfortunately for the suspect I was running eastbound through the same yard and the suspect literally ran into a brick wall — me — and fell to the ground right (in front of me). (I) was able to handcuff him without incident,” Sgt. Matthew Weekely wrote in a division Facebook post.
The teen is now facing a burglary charge.
In terms of the brick wall reference, “Sarge is fairly large — one might say comparable to Incredible Hulk,” according to the post.
43 shell casings found after shootout
Third-shift assault unit detectives were busy last week when they responded to a shootout between an unknown group of individuals on the city’s Near East Side.
The shootout happened at 1:08 a.m. Wednesday, resulting in numerous vehicles and a home in the 400 block of North Monroe Avenue getting struck by bullets.
“A total of 43 spent shell casings, three spent projectiles and a firearm magazine were recovered at the scene,” according to a search warrant.
About 10 minutes later, a patrol officer noticed a tan 2004 Chevy Impala pass him at James Road and the I-70 off-ramp dragging its muffler.
When the officer attempted to stop the vehicle, the driver kept going and fled into the surrounding neighborhood.
The patrol officer found the vehicle in the middle of the intersection at Scottwood and Picard roads in Linwood on the East Side with both doors ajar.
The rear window was shot out and a bullet had struck the front windshield. Inside, a .45-caliber live ammunition was found in the front passenger floorboard.
No injuries were noted in the warrant. It’s unclear what led to the shootout.
Fill-in role appeals to former judge
Daniel Hogan, who retired as a Franklin County judge in January 2015 and returned to his old job in the county prosecutor’s office, may be headed back to the bench, he told Reporter John Futty.
He is retiring as an assistant prosecutor effective Oct. 2 and has notified the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court that he is interested in serving as a visiting Common Pleas judge as needed.
Hogan, 65, decided not to seek a fourth term on the Common Pleas bench in November 2014, despite being one of the county’s most respected judges, because of his aversion to campaigning. That’s something a visiting judge needn’t worry about.
“I can be a judge, and I don’t have to deal with the politics,” he said.
During his nearly three years back in the prosecutor’s office, the most high-profile case Hogan handled was the death-penalty trial of Lincoln Rutledge, who was convicted in June of purposely killing a Columbus police officer and sentenced to life without parole.