Who is Donovan Lewis? Bodycam Video of Black Man's Shooting Sparks Outrage

Police in Ohio have released body camera footage showing the police shooting of an unarmed Black man.

Donovan Lewis, 20, was shot while officers were attempting to serve a felony warrant at an apartment in the 3200 block of Sullivant Avenue in Columbus at around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the Columbus Division of Police said.

The officer who shot Lewis was identified by Columbus Police as Ricky Anderson, a 30-year veteran of the department assigned to the canine unit.

At a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said officers had knocked on the door of a second-floor apartment for up to 10 minutes before anyone answered.

Two men who were inside the apartment were taken into custody and officers called a K9 unit to help with a search of the apartment.

The body camera footage shows officers searching the apartment for Lewis, who was wanted on a felony warrant for domestic violence and assault and improperly handling a firearm.

Stock photo
Stock photo. Police in Columbus, Ohio, released body camera footage showing the shooting of an unarmed Black man. iStock

The video shows the dog moving around the kitchen and barking at a bedroom door.

"We're gonna send that dog in," an officer says moments before Anderson moved to hold the door back and opened the bedroom door.

In less than a second, Anderson is seen firing a shot, striking Lewis as he sat up on a bed.

"Hands," one officer is heard repeatedly yelling. He also orders Lewis to "crawl out" multiple times, but he remains on the bed face down.

"Cover me, I'm gonna go in," one officer said a short time later.

"I need cuffs, I'm out of cuffs," an officer in the room can be heard saying on the video. "Hands behind your back, do it now."

An officer is seen lifting Lewis' right arm and attempting to it shift it behind his back while Lewis is heard moaning. "Stop resisting," the officer tells Lewis, who remains face down on the bed.

Officers are later seen carrying Lewis out of the bedroom while his hands are still cuffed behind his back.

Police said officers rendered aid until medics arrived on the scene and transported Lewis to Grant Medical Center in critical condition. He was pronounced dead at the hospital at 3:19 a.m., police said.

Bryant said Anderson fired when Lewis appeared to raise a hand with something in it.

No gun was recovered at the scene, and Bryant said it appeared that Lewis was holding a vape pen when he was shot.

The investigation into the shooting is being conducted by Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).

The incident—the third police shooting in an eight-day span and the first that was fatal—sparked outrage and drew protests to the Columbus Police Department's headquarters on Tuesday.

In a statement provided to Newsweek, the Columbus chapter of the NAACP called for the BCI to conduct a "thorough, comprehensive and immediate" investigation.

"These incidents leave behind grieving family members, unanswered questions from the community and a further divide between the citizens and the police department," the statement said.

Newsweek has reached out to the Columbus Police Department and the Ohio Bureau of Investigation for further comment.

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Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on abortion rights, race, education, ... Read more

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