More than 100 police officers, supporters and family members turned out at Cincinnati City Hall Wednesday to back two fellow officers under investigation in a pair of shootings.
Officer Douglas Depodesta, whose involvement in the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Collins on Feb. 23 has drawn intense community and media attention, sat in the front row of council chambers, joining other officers in a series of standing ovations for speakers.
In the same row sat Officer Orlando Smith, who shot a suspect in the neck in North Avondale Feb. 3, as well as officers who were exonerated in the Dec. 24 shooting of Ralph Schellhammer, a mentally disturbed man shot while brandishing a sword on a College Hill street.
"Each one of these officers was faced with the decision to use deadly force and did," Pete Ridder, president of Fraternal Order of Police Queen City Lodge No. 69, told council members.
The police show of support came two hours after about 15 people marched with coffins outside the Lazarus store at Seventh and Race streets as part of a series of demonstrations protesting the Collins shooting.
Mr. Ridder urged council members to consider the job police officers are asked to do.
"What do you see?" Mr. Ridder said.''You see a human being who is a police officer with a very difficult job.
"When these police officers do what they are trained by you to do, we expect you to support us, not condemn us."
Officer Depodesta and University of Cincinnati Officer John Engel shot Mr. Collins, 25, of Avondale after he charged them with a brick, investigators have said.
Mr. Collins had escaped minutes earlier from a locked ward at University Hospital, where he was being observed for mental problems. Officers chasing him through Corryville were not aware of his history of mental problems and cocaine abuse.
Both Officer Depodesta and Officer Smith have been cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the Hamilton County prosecutor's office; city administrative reviews of both cases are pending. The U.S. Department of Justice also is reviewing the Collins case.
Several speakers Wednesday criticized community organizers who have called for the firing of Officer Depodesta and wholesale changes in the way police are hired, trained and overseen.
The police supporters gave their loudest applause to two speakers from outside the official ranks: the wife of a police officer, and the widow of a Russian immigrant who was beaten to death with a rock. "Even a stone or a brick on the street can take our life," said Eugenia Shtrom. Her husband, Moisey Shtrom, was fatally beaten during a July 17, 1990, robbery as they left a ballet performance at Music Hall.
Sharon Fangman, wife of Cincinnati Police Officer Keith Fangman, told of her three years at University Hospital, when she twice saw mentally disturbed patients try to take guns from university police officers.
A brick to the head can cause death, paralysis or knock an officer unconscious so a suspect can take his weapon, she said.
A coalition of groups plans to demonstrate downtown throughout June and July. Beginning at noon June 14 on Fountain Square, protesters will carry at least eight plywood caskets along downtown streets and in front of businesses until they "get some answers from the city," said the Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, a leader of the Baptist Ministers Conference.
Laura Goldberg and Julie Ralston contributed to this report.
Previous stories
POLICE UNION, PROTESTERS PLAN DEMONSTRATIONS June 3, 1997
ENOUGH GUILT TO SHARE Laura Pulfer column, June 3, 1997
SHOOT FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS LATER Peter Bronson column, June 1, 1997
COLLINS PROTESTS CONTINUE May 31, 1997
RADIO LINKS ERRATIC IN COLLINS CHASE May 30, 1997
POLICY ON POLICE HOLDS UNCLEAR May 30, 1997
POLICE SUMMARY OF ITS INVESTIGATION May 29, 1997
DIAGRAM OF THE SHOOTING SCENE May 29, 1997
NO CRIME FOUND IN COLLINS SHOOTING May 29, 1997
NINE MINUTES OF CONFUSION: THE SHOOTING OF LORENZO COLLINS May 27, 1997
DIAGRAM RECONSTRUCTING THE EVENTS May 27, 1997
TRAINING, POLICIES AND POLICE ACTION May 27, 1997
WHY DID THE COPS KILL LORENZO? Peter Bronson column, May 25, 1997
BORGMAN CARTOON May 25, 1997
PUSH FOR POLICE REVIEW FEARED May 9, 1997
FBI TO REVIEW COLLINS CASE May 8, 1997
MARCHERS VOW SEASON OF DISRUPTIONS May 5, 1997
PROSECUTORS GET REPORT ON FATAL SHOOTING April 29, 1997
SHOOTING PROTESTERS ALLEGE POLICE BRUTALITY April 17, 1997
DEMONSTRATORS CITE SHOOTING OF MENTAL PATIENT March 24, 1997
BAPTIST MINISTERS PROTEST AGAINST POLICE March 20, 1997
LAWSUIT SEEKS $5 MILLION March 13, 1997
PUNISH POLICE, MARCHERS URGE March 5, 1997
FATAL SHOOTING CONCERNS COMMUNITY March 2, 1997
PROBE: POLICE FIRED FOUR SHOTS AT MAN WITH BRICK Feb. 25, 1997
MAN SHOT BY POLICE AFTER CHASE Feb. 24, 1997
