Fairmont vs. Mt. Notre Dame
Miami Valley styles
'Tis the Season Festival
Get latest headlines via RSS feeds
NewsVine
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Reddit
StumbleuponLabensky had drugs in system at time of shooting
Kettering man was shot and killed while trying to elude police.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
HARRISON TWP., Montgomery County — A Kettering man killed May 6 by a Dayton police officer had five drugs in his system when he died, a Montgomery County Coroner's toxicology report shows.
That report and the Montgomery County Sheriff's investigation into the shooting death of Lary Labensky, 44, were released last week after a grand jury declined to indict Officer Christopher Cornwell.
Labensky had cocaine, codeine, heroin, benzoyl ecgonine and morphine in his blood when he was killed in the backyard of a home on Saylor Street, the coroner's report shows.
Cornwell shot Labensky five times — once in the upper left arm and four in the torso, Coroner James H. Davis said. Cornwell feared Labensky was going to run over other officers in the yard after he refused repeated commands to stop the vehicle, police Chief Richard Biehl said.
Labensky had to have ingested the drugs within minutes of being chased by police, said Ken Betz, Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab Director.
Davis found crack cocaine in Labensky's pocket, along with $120 in cash, his report stated. Labensky also had receipts from local pawn shops where he pawned two laptops for cash, according to the report.
The chase started at 12:37 a.m. near Salem Avenue and Free Pike when Deputy Joshua Walters shined a flashlight into the stolen 2004 silver Pontiac Grand Am Labensky was driving. Labensky immediately ducked down and drove off, Walters said.
Labensky matched the description of a man who robbed two businesses hours before, according to the sheriff's report.
The chase ended when Labensky went off Williamson Drive and traveled through two backyards before crashing into a fence. He was revving the engine and trying to back up as officers closed in, police said. That's when Cornwell fired the shots, 22 seconds after exiting his cruiser.
The sheriff's department later said they arrested another man for the Salem Avenue robberies.
>Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2494 or lsullivan@DaytonDailyNews.com
