[Music]
On June 25th, 2025, a lawsuit was filed
by an injured Columbus Police officer
against the Whiteall Police Department
stemming from an incident that occurred
on July the 6th, 2023, where Whiteall
police detectives followed armed robbery
suspect suspects into the city of
Columbus, watched the suspects commit an
armed robbery at a bank, then allowed
the suspects to escape, and eventually
shoot the officer who filed the lawsuit.
In this video, I will walk you through
the events of that day step by step to
show you what happened. By the end of
the video, it will be crystal clear that
the Whiteall Police Department acted
recklessly and with stunning
incompetence, allowing the suspects to
escape and nearly kill a young police
officer whose injuries were so severe
that two years later, he is still in and
out of the hospital. On July 6th, 2023,
at approximately 2:13 p.m., the three
suspects entered the Buyer Import Car
dealership in Whiteall, Ohio, and
committed a takeover style armed robbery
where they secured their transportation,
a Porsche Cayenne. An employee with the
dealership called 911 and Whiteall
Police Department responded with
uniformed officers going to the scene of
the robbery and planelo officers
tracking the stolen vehicle using the
GPS information provided by the
business.
The officers in unmarked cars track the
stolen Porsche into the city of
Columbus.
Normally, when an officer chases an
armed robbery suspect into another
jurisdiction, they would notify the city
to make sure the officers were aware of
a dangerous situation brewing. Instead,
the Whiteall Communication Center called
the Columbus Police radio, stating they
are tracking a stolen vehicle by DPS. My
deputy chief says he does not want any
Columbus police officers to go near that
vehicle or pursue this at all because we
are going out there. They did not let
Columbus police know the vehicle was
stolen during armed robbery and that it
was occupied by three armed suspects.
This order came from Whiteall Deputy
Chief Chad Wilder.
At 4 pm, the suspects traveled to a
Fifth Third Bank on Hillyard Rome Road
and committed an armed robbery while
Whiteall police officers sat in the
parking lot watching their vehicle. The
location of this robbery is a 45minute
drive from where the Whiteall officers
began following the vehicle. It occurred
almost 2 hours after the original
robbery at the car dealership.
The Whiteall police officers stated they
had a plan to box in the suspects at the
bank, but the suspects rammed their way
past them. Here is the video of Whiteall
officers attempting to box in the
suspects. Does it look like they rammed
their way out?
 Um, and at that point, we
we had decided we were going to try to
block the vehicle in and take it down.
Police hands up. Don't move. Don't move.
Do not move. Whiteall police tried to
block in the stolen car.
 Hands up.
Put your hands up.
But the suspects rammed Sergeant John
Earl's car and were able to take off.
Three rammed his way out. He's going up
towards Toyota.
 Whiteall police Sergeant
Jonathan Earl jumped in his vehicle and
moved it out of their way, allowing the
suspects to escape.
He then later lied about it, saying the
suspects rammed their way out. His
actions and the subsequent lies are
unacceptable.
At this point, the Whiteall officers
notified the city of Columbus that they
were chasing three armed robbery
suspects eastbound on Interstate 70. At
4:07 p.m., Columbus police officers
joined on the pursuit on the freeway and
unbeknownst to them, the Porsche
dealership was told to shut down the
vehicle remotely. The Porsche came to an
abrupt stop on the freeway and crashed
into the right barrier, then bounced to
the left lane where it came to rest with
all airbags deployed.
At 4:09 p.m., two of the suspects
immediately fled and can be seen jumping
over the wall to get off the freeway. An
officer from the Columbus Division of
Police gave chase, but was ambushed by
the third suspect who was hiding amongst
the vehicles that were stopped on the
freeway. He was shot and killed when the
wounded officer and seven of his friends
returned fire.
The wounded officer was struck in the
lower body and when he fell to the
ground, several rounds went under his
vest into his torso, causing serious
damage to multiple vital organs. He
spent several weeks in the ICU before
being transferred to a long-term care
facility. He has since returned home,
but not to work. His injuries were so
significant that over the last two
years, he's been rushed to the hospital
multiple times.
As stated in the lawsuit, this case
arises out of the reckless failure of
five Whiteall police officers to follow
proper police tactics and department
policy. In a stunning display of
incompetence, the defendants allowed
armed and dangerous suspects in their
control to flee, endangering the public
and officers from other agencies who
would respond to assist.
[Music]
[Music]