Officers cleared in two shooting incidents

An internal Columbus police review board has cleared two officers involved in separate incidents.

In the first case, the Firearms and Police-Involved Death Review Board ruled Officer Jarod Barsotti’s actions were within policy after he fired several shots at a vehicle as an officer was being dragged a short distance.

Barsotti, now 33, was working special duty at the Spain Night Club, 6136 Busch Blvd. on the North Side, on Nov. 23, 2015, when he and another officer responded to a report of a person with a gun in a vehicle. When they approached the driver, later identified as 31-year-old Luis Castro, to speak to him, he took off, dragging another officer. Barsotti opened fire. Castro was not shot, but he was apprehended.

Barsotti was cleared by the panel in January of another incident in 2015 when he shot and wounded a suicidal man on the South Side after a Taser did not prove to be effective. Barsotti has been a Columbus police officer for nearly five years, records show.

On Friday, the board also cleared Officer Nathan Hargus in a June 16, 2016, incident after he tried to retrieve a gun from a 15-yearold boy stopped by officers because he matched the description of a suspect who just committed an armed robbery in the 2200 block of Cleveland Avenue in South Linden. As Hargus was searching the teen, the gun accidentally fired in the suspect’s pants, according to police. The teen suffered minor injuries and was later charged with aggravated robbery, robbery and kidnapping.

Hargus, now 33, has worked at the division for nearly five years as an officer.