The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio has secured $2.5 million for body cameras nearlytwo weeks after a young man was fatally shot by one of its deputies.
Sheriff Dallas Baldwin said Wednesday’s funding approval from the county Board of Commissioners will lead to greater transparency following the December 4 shooting in Columbus of Casey Goodson Jr. by deputy Jason Meade, a 17-year veteran who had been assigned to a U.S. Marshal’s fugitive task force.
Baldwin thanked commissioners for approving his funding request. He said his office hoped to move quickly since it had already been working with multiple companies on proposals for body cameras.
David DeVillers, US Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said this week that had met with Goodson’s family to discuss the joint criminal civil rights investigation being conducted by his office, the FBI and other agencies.
The Ohio US Marshal who initially asserted that the shooting appeared justified said this week that his statement was premature and based on insufficient information. The reversal came after the mayor of Columbus blasted the Marshal for his remarks.
After the shooting, the US Marshal for the region, Peter Tobin, described the encounter and predicted the use of lethal force would be ruled justified.
With protests looming a week after the shooting, however, the US Marshal’s Office released a statement saying Tobin spoke prematurely and without sufficient information. Tobin’s statement didn’t address the factual assertions he had made after the shooting or provide additional clarity about the interaction between Meade and Goodson before the deputy shot him.
Tobin also sought to distance the federal law enforcement agency from the actions of the deputy, saying the “officer was acting on his own and in his independent authority” when he encountered and shot Goodson, 23, a Black man who Columbus Police said was legally armed at the time. Goodson is an Ohio concealed carry permit holder.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said via Twitter Friday that Tobin “was wrong to make a statement, and his words were inappropriate, uninformed and damaged the public’s trust in the investigation.”
Goodson’s shooting brought renewed attention to a series of law enforcement shootings in recent years of young Black men and teens in the city. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is overseeing the probe, which includes investigators from the Columbus Division of Police’s critical incident response team.
Law enforcement officials at the federal, state and local levels have released little information about the shooting. Two 911 calls released by Columbus police revealed a chaotic scene after the shooting, with Goodson’s relatives not sure at first if a police officer had shot him.
Tobin has said task force members were taking off their gear after an unrelated operation when Goodson was seen driving down the street waving a gun. He didn’t specify who saw Goodson waving a gun.
At some point, Meade confronted Goodson and then shot him to death.
Goodson’s mother said he was shot as he tried entering his home after returning from the dentist and Subway, a quick stop he made to get sandwiches for his 5-year-old brother and 72-year-old grandmother. The two found Goodson lying on the ground, family attorney Sean Walton told CNN.
Meade’s attorney, Mark Collins, has Goodson pointed a gun at the deputy prior to the shooting.
Attorneys for Goodson’s family said “neither the City of Columbus nor any other investigatory agency has alleged that Casey Goodson pointed a gun before Meade pulled the trigger.”
Police said no other officers witnessed the shooting, no civilian eyewitnesses have been identified, and no body camera footage was available.
