White Columbus Cop who Murdered Donovan Lewis Pled Guilty to Reckless Homicide; Shot Black Man Laying in Bed after Breaking Into His Home at 2:30AM to Serve a Domestic Violence Warrant in Liberal City

Media Analysis Shows Columbus Police are Disproportionately Shooting and Killing Black Males. Although the Liberal, White City is Only 29% Black, 63% of the People Killed by Cops were Black

A white Ohio police officer who fatally shot a Black man lying in bed pled guilty Wednesday to reckless homicide, the lesser of the two charges he faced in the shooting four years ago.

Ricky Anderson entered what is known as an Alford plea, acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to support a conviction without admitting guilt. In exchange, the state agreed to drop a murder charge, according to the Franklin County prosecuting attorney.

Anderson was a K-9 officer with the Columbus Police Department when he killed Donovan Lewis, 20, in August 2022. [MORE] and [MORE]

An attorney for Lewis’ family said body-camera footage shows Anderson firing within a second of opening the bedroom door where Lewis was sleeping. The family has a pending civil suit against the former officer.

There was “no justification” for police “to shoot an unarmed man trying to get out of bed” as officers were instructing him to do, Elliott said.

“Columbus police. If you are inside, make yourself known,” one officer says. Off camera, a man can be heard saying, “They are sleeping.” The officer repeats: “Come on out. Come out now.”

A police dog enters the apartment and begins barking. Officers then follow the dog toward the room where Lewis was sleeping and open the door. A light illuminates Lewis starting to sit up in bed, and Anderson instantly fires. As Lewis writhes and moans, he is told to “crawl” out of the room and to stop resisting arrest. He is shown being handcuffed on the bed.

Officers had entered the apartment around 2:30 a.m. with a police dog to serve Lewis arrest warrants on charges of domestic violence, assault and improper handling of a firearm, Sgt. Joe Albert of Columbus police said.

In the footage, officers can be heard telling Lewis to crawl out of the room after he was shot. Lewis was handcuffed on the bed and died after being taken to a hospital. Rex Elliott, the lawyer representing Lewis’s family, told reporters Thursday that the young man was “treated like an animal.”

“Police shot and killed Donovan Lewis while he was in one of the most vulnerable places a person can be — bed. As the investigation unfolds, some may point to the fact that the police were attempting to execute a warrant when they shot Mr. Lewis, as if to suggest that an alleged offense warrants immediate execution,” Kelly Sampson, director of racial justice at the anti-gun-violence organization Brady, said in a statement.

Elliott questioned why police chose to execute the warrant in the middle of the night.

“I think all of us in this room probably had parents tell us nothing good happens at 2 o’clock in the morning,” the lawyer said. “The explanation by Chief Bryant that, ‘Well, we do that because we have to be sure that they’re at home,’ is nonsense. The reality is that felony warrants are executed every day in daylight hours.” [MORE]

Blacks are shot frequently in Columbus, a city controlled by elite white liberals. For instance, in December 2020, Andre Hill, a 47-year-old unarmed Black man, was shot four times by a Columbus officer while leaving a friend’s house because he was holding a cell phone. His family received a $10 million settlement from the city. Last year, an officer fatally shot Ma’Khia Bryant, a Black 16-year-0ld, outside her home. That officer was cleared of criminal wrongdoing after an investigation.