“From what I look at, I can tell you from the policies and procedures, I don’t think that we have violated any that I can tell. … But it’s always great to have another source review that as well.”
Jerome said Officer Henry Edds is at home recovering from a gunshot wound to his left arm. Jerome also said Edds and Frank Graci — who also fired his weapon — are still on administrative leave with pay and will remain so until the criminal investigation is over and perhaps after a grand jury meets.
“That’s part of the investigation, as well, is to ensure that everything that was done was done according to law,” Jerome said.
Jerome said he was told the preliminary criminal investigation is complete except for toxicology and ballistics reports. A prosecutor’s office spokesman said no three-prosecutor panel to discuss evidence has been formally scheduled.
Ashley Sides, 31, of Cookeville, Tenn., died Oct. 31 of multiple gunshot wounds during what’s been describes as a shootout that happened at the Speedway gas station at 799 Arlington Road after Sides crashed her vehicle following a short pursuit by an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper.
Dispatchers received 911 calls that a white SUV crashed into a tree-line near the Wendy’s at the corner at Upper Lewisburg Salem Road and Arlington Road. A woman was reported to dispatchers as running from the scene, and possibly trying to flag down other vehicles. As police were looking for the female, shots rang out at the Speedway.
Sides’ boyfriend, Conrad E. Davis, a former Marine, fired a .22 caliber semi-automatic handgun at Brookville police, according to court records. Davis, 27, also from Cookeville, remains in Montgomery County Jail on a $1 million bond and charged with felonious assault on a police officer and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle.
Jerome would not address whether Sides had a second gun, which officer shot Sides or how Davis got away in his vehicle during the altercation. Jerome said law enforcement didn’t know Davis was still in the area after the shooting before he was located.
“We’ve never had both situations happen and happen in one evening,” Jerome said of Brookville police having an officer shot and killing a suspect, adding that the department is being cautious to make sure the investigation is done properly. “We’re not trying to be evasive at all.”
Davis’ Subaru was found in a pond near a church at the intersection of Brookville Phillipsburg Road and Access Road. A K-9 tracked Davis to an unlocked camper at a nearby private residence in Clay Twp., where authorities took him into custody without incident around 7:45 a.m. Nov. 1.
A complaint and affidavit signed by Montgomery County Sheriff’s Detective Eric Dingee said Davis fired his weapon at police. “Brookville Police officers returned fire in the lot,” the complaint said.
When he was walked from the sheriff’s office to the jail, Davis tearfully apologized for shooting an officer, said the gun was his and expressed shock that his girlfriend had been shot several times.
“I’m so sorry,” Davis said before entering the jail. “I’m so ashamed.”
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