Vex
Member
Here is a small portion of the news story:
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/02/20/20060220-B1-03.html
A few of the news TV channels showed the video last night. Very interesting how long this guy had to give up. In the video, the trooper takes the guy out of the car to do a sobriety test, but before that checks the guy for weapons. The guy has a .45 under his shirt, and before it's found he begins to fight with the officer. A few seconds into the fight, the suspect's gun falls out of his pants and hits the dirt. The fight is on for the gun, and the suspects gets it, but the trooper is on the guy's back and has him face down on the ground. Then the suspect shoots behind him, trying to hit the trooper, but misses. The trooper is punching the guy, trying to get him to release the weapon, and this happens for about 30 seconds before the trooper pulls out his gun (Sig P229), put it to the guys head, and fires. Dead on the spot. The whole fight lasted under 2 minutes. The suspect had plenty of time to give up and stop resisting. OSP ruled the shooting as justified.
Here is the second part to the story and a portion of the video.
http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/02/22/20060222-A1-04.html
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/02/20/20060220-B1-03.html
Driver pulled over on suspicion of DUI fatally shot while struggling with trooper
Monday, February 20, 2006
Aaron Marshall
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A state trooper fatally shot a Jeffersonville man after the man opened fire on the officer during a traffic stop in Fayette County early yesterday, authorities said.
Errol T. Baker II, 26, of 15 Vine St., was struck in the upper body by a bullet fired by Trooper James Cress, an officer with the State Highway Patrol post in Wilmington, according to the patrol.
Baker, who had an extensive arrest record including pending drugrelated charges in Highland County, was stopped at 1:47 a.m. yesterday under suspicion of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence.
The patrol said Baker’s car had crossed the center line before Cress pulled him over on Rt. 753, about 2 miles south of Rt. 35. After Baker got out of his car for a field sobriety test, the two men struggled, the patrol said.
Baker fired one shot from a handgun at Cress, the patrol said. Cress then shot Baker at close range with his .40-caliber service weapon.
Baker’s family questions whether the patrol’s account is accurate.
"There are just a lot of questions right now," said Mindy Baker, the older sister of Ty, as the father of three was known. "We’d like to get some answers."
An eyewitness to the shooting, a friend of Ty Baker’s who was in his car, told Sally Baker, Ty Baker’s mother, that she heard only one shot.
"She told me that she seen him put up against the car, they went to the ground and she heard only one shot," Sally Baker said.
Family members also said that Ty Baker was shot in the back of the head.
A camera mounted on the dashboard of the trooper’s car captured the shooting, according to Lt. Shawn Davis. Davis said the patrol is certain that Baker fired his weapon and that Cress returned fire with at least one shot.
"We aren’t for sure at this point how many rounds (Cress) fired," Davis said.
Cress, who has been with the Highway Patrol since December 2004, was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting, which is standard procedure.
Baker was taken to Fayette County Memorial Hospital and later transported by helicopter to Grant Medical Center in Columbus, where he died yesterday morning.
An autopsy will be conducted today by Franklin County Coroner Brad Lewis.
Highland County Sheriff Ron Ward said Baker was due in court this April to answer to a list of charges stemming from a three-county drug investigation that netted nine arrests.
Baker had been indicted on one count of engaging in corrupt activity, 12 counts of trafficking in cocaine, one count of illegal manufacture of drugs, one count of discharging a firearm close to a home and two counts of possessing weapons as a felon.
Baker was a "major target" of the drug investigation, Ward said.
The sheriff said he had a history of violence and left a trail of felony arrests.
"Based on his prior history, it doesn’t surprise me one bit," Ward said of yesterday’s shooting.
Yesterday afternoon, as family members gathered quietly at the Jeffersonville home of Ty Baker’s father, Errol Baker Sr., Mindy Baker remembered the good times she had on a 2004 cruise she took with her brother, a 1997 Miami Trace High School graduate.
"We loved the beaches and we went to all of the little clubs around Miami," she said. "Just doing what 20-somethings do when they have a good time."
Mindy Baker said the family was told the patrol’s tape of the shooting won’t be released to them until Tuesday at the earliest.
"I just want to see the tape and know for myself the truth," she said.
A few of the news TV channels showed the video last night. Very interesting how long this guy had to give up. In the video, the trooper takes the guy out of the car to do a sobriety test, but before that checks the guy for weapons. The guy has a .45 under his shirt, and before it's found he begins to fight with the officer. A few seconds into the fight, the suspect's gun falls out of his pants and hits the dirt. The fight is on for the gun, and the suspects gets it, but the trooper is on the guy's back and has him face down on the ground. Then the suspect shoots behind him, trying to hit the trooper, but misses. The trooper is punching the guy, trying to get him to release the weapon, and this happens for about 30 seconds before the trooper pulls out his gun (Sig P229), put it to the guys head, and fires. Dead on the spot. The whole fight lasted under 2 minutes. The suspect had plenty of time to give up and stop resisting. OSP ruled the shooting as justified.
Here is the second part to the story and a portion of the video.
http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/02/22/20060222-A1-04.html