Lorenzo Collins, brick in hand, was 6 to 8 feet from police officers when they shot him, investigators said Monday.
Cincinnati Police Specialist Douglas Depodesta and University of Cincinnati Officer John E. Engel fired a total of four shots Sunday afternoon, inflicting at least three wounds, said Lt. Clarence Mullis, commander of the city homicide unit.
Mr. Collins, 25, of Avondale,
was in critical condition Monday. He had been released from jail Friday on a
theft charge and has a history of theft and drug offenses.
Police said Mr. Collins, who was being pursued after escaping from University Hospital and had been sprayed with chemical irritant without effect, advanced toward the officers, threatening them with a brick in a fenced yard at 237 E. Rochelle St., Corryville.
''They were standing together, that's why they both fired,'' Lt. Mullis said of the officers who shot Mr. Collins. Three or four other officers who weren't in Mr. Collins' path didn't fire their weapons, Lt. Mullis said.
How Mr. Collins, 25, of Avondale,
escaped from the hospital's locked psychiatric floor is still unknown, hospital spokesman Rick Smith said Monday. State statute allows the escorting police agency, in this case Springdale police, to request an individual be placed in a ''police mental hold,'' for up to three days or until a mental evaluation is completed.
Springdale police had picked Mr. Collins up for questioning Saturday in connection with a theft at a store there. He was taken to the hospital Saturday because of erratic behavior he exhibited during the questioning,
police said.
Mr. Collins was not deemed to pose a threat of violence or to flee, and therefore didn't have a guard at his door, Mr. Smith said. Nor had tests been finished when Mr. Collins escaped, running about three blocks to East Rochelle Street.
Mr. Collins responded to repeated police orders to drop the brick by twice saying, 'Y'all gonna have to kill me,'Ç'' according to witness Karen Leonard, 32.
Ms. Leonard, who lives on Rochelle, saw Mr. Collins jump a fence at an apartment complex and run across the street. She ran outside and saw and heard the stand-off.
She confirmed the police account of Mr. Collins holding up and waving a brick in a threatening manner. But she said Mr. Collins did not ''charge'' police, as one officer said in his radio call to a police dispatcher.
''He looked like he was going to throw it,'' she said of the suspect. ''But he didn't move forward. He was like a cornered rat looking for a place to get out.''
Many neighbors interviewed Sunday and Monday said that while Mr. Collins was holding a brick, officers didn't need to shoot him. Some voiced suspicion that if he weren't a black man, perhaps the situation would have been handled differently.
''Everybody around here is mad. They shot him over a brick,'' Ms. Leonard said.
But a brick can kill, said Sgt. Mike Gardner, training officer for the Cincinnati Police. Sgt. Gardner on Monday discussed police training in use-of-force, but refused to discuss the Collins shooting. Three independent investigations are under way.
Cincinnati officers receive more than 800 hours of recruit training, including courses in the use of force and dealing with the mentally ill. Spc. Depodesta had just completed a refresher course in January, Sgt. Gardner said.
City policy says police ''may use whatever force is reasonably necessary to apprehend the offender and effect the arrest, and no more. They must avoid using unnecessary violence ... If the offender resists, the officer may use such force as required under the circumstances to overcome the resistance, even to the extent of taking life, if that is necessary.''
Officers are trained to use force only in response to force or resistance, and not to use physical force unless a subject has ignored repeated verbal commands, Sgt. Gardner said.
Federal case law says that an officer should use the ''least amount of force that's reasonably necessary,'' but that reasonableness must be assessed from the officer's point of view, he said. ''Sometimes, in hindsight, there are better choices.''
If a person has the intent, opportunity and means to harm an officer, the officer can counter with force, Sgt. Gardner said.
''Legally, if a person's got a weapon, you can shoot him. We try to package in some morality (with the training),'' he said. A gun is deadly over a longer distance, but ''people with knives and sticks and bottles and bricks are just as deadly.''
A UC police officer ''may use deadly force to protect himself or others from what he reasonably believes to be an immediate threat of death or grievous bodily harm.''
Officer Engel had the standard 450-hour Peace Officer Basic Training in 1982, and UC police must requalify three times a year with firearms, said university spokesman Greg Hand. Once a year, the officer must review the use-of-force policy, he said.
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MAN SHOT BY POLICE AFTER CHASE Feb. 24, 1997
