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Authorities spent the morning processing the shooting scene, gathering and documenting evidence at Celina's Eastview Park. Celina police cruisers and a BCI crime unit vehicle were parked at the scene.
CELINA - Mercer County Grand Jurors decided not to pursue any indictments in the August Celina police-involved shooting.
Van Wert County Prosecutor Eva Yarger, who assumed the role of special prosecutor in the fatal police shooting of 24-year-old Corey Andrew of St. Marys, said the jurors found the officers' use of deadly force was "objectively reasonable."
Yarger said she presented her case to the jury last Thursday. No charges will be filed with the department or the officers involved, she said Tuesday.
When an officer uses deadly force, they must have probable cause to believe the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm to themselves or others, she said.
"They (the police officers) don't act unreasonably by using deadly force when they think there's going to be an immediate threat of harm," Yarger said. "That's the standard I presented to the grand jury."
The jurors also reviewed the evidence and information gathered by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), Yarger said.
During BCI's investigation, agents interviewed witnesses and reviewed the manuals and the records of all the officers involved, she said. They also looked at videos from the responding police departments, including body and cruise camera footage; statements from the responding police departments; crime scene photos; lab results; employee records; radio traffic; department policy and procedures; medical records; and items seized from the search warrant of the vehicle.
Mercer County Prosecutor Erin Minor had said a special prosecutor was brought on to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
"We work closely with the law enforcement agencies in the county all the time, and so it's common in these sorts of situations to get what's called a special prosecutor, which is typically a prosecutor from another county, to review the report," she had said.
Andrew was fatally shot by Celina police in the early morning hours of Aug. 25, 2023, near the Eastview Park pond after he drove a 2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer directly at a police officer, missing him by only inches, Celina Police Chief Tom Wale had said.
Wale had said patrolmen David Powell and Justin Rice both fired an unspecified number of rounds at the Trailblazer driven by Andrew after it "came directly at patrolman Rice."
"Two Celina police officers found themselves without cover and victims of a lethal assault," Wale had said. "The officers responded as trained and with all justification, opening fire upon the threat and stopping the aggression."
Passengers Hannah Pawelski, 24, whom Wale believed was Andrew's girlfriend, and their baby were uninjured, he had said. Andrew was transported to Mercer County Community Hospital in Coldwater where he was pronounced dead. Officers didn't know a baby was in the Trailblazer until after it had come to a rest, Wale had said.
Wale had provided media with footage from Rice's body camera and Powell's cruiser camera that together show Andrew nearly striking Rice with the Trailblazer as he drives toward a walking path in an apparent attempt to flee the scene.
It also shows the officers opening fire on the Trailblazer. There was no body camera footage of Powell's initial interaction with Andrew.
Both officers were placed on administrative leave following the shooting per department protocol, Wale had said. They have since returned to duty.
