The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has declined to investigate the shooting of Casey Christopher Goodson Jr. on December 4 after the Columbus Division of Police announced they would be handing off the investigation to BCI.
The bureau declined to take the investigation because of the time between when the incident happened and when Columbus police reached out to BCI.
"We received a referral to take a three day old officer-involved shooting case. Not knowing all the reasons as to why so much time has passed before the case was referred to BCI, we cannot accept this case," Steve Irwin, press secretary for the attorney general's office, said in an emailed statement.
He added:
"The Attorney General said that BCI was able to investigate officer-involved shootings – a process that begins with a request for assistance, processing of a crime scene and a thorough investigation. BCI has an existing [memorandum of understanding] with CPD, as they know that BCI is their first call when an incident occurs. BCI is the first call because we cannot be the subject matter experts unless we’re on scene from the beginning to document the evidence of what happened from the start. Three days later after the crime scene has been dismantled and the witness have all dispersed does not work."
Columbus Division of Police had previously been tasked to investigate the shooting, but Monday afternoon, Police Chief Thomas Quinlan sent the case to BCI in order "to remove any doubt among the public about the independence of this investigation," according to 10tv.
Mayor Andrew Ginther confirmed on Twitter that BCI would be taking over the investigation a few hours later.
Ginther announced that the investigation will be conducted by the Columbus Division of Police and confirmed the Bureau of Criminal Investigations declined.
He said BCI and the city had reached an agreement earlier in the day, but BCI declined after further review.
"The Columbus Division of Police will resume the investigation in what we expect will be a thorough, complete, timely and transparent investigation focussed [sic] on facts and getting to the truth," he tweeted.
He also said that the city and BCI had an agreement previously in the day, but BCI declined after further review.
The division released a statement saying they would be continuing their investigation, instead of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations taking it over. According to the statement, BCI declined to take the investigation because it was "well underway."
"Chief Quinlan's interest in having BCI involved in the case was based solely on reassuring the public of maximum independence in the investigation of this tragedy," the statement reads. "As he said in his statement earlier today, he has complete faith in CPD's Critical Incident Response Team to investigate this matter fully and fairly. That has not changed."
Read the full statement below.
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