BY LAURA GOLDBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CLICK HERE for a summary and links to the three-day Enquirer series sparked by the shooting death of Lorenzo Collins.

Cincinnati City Council's Law Committee will hold a public review of City Manager John Shirey's decisions concerning the Lorenzo Collins case.

Council on Wednesday unanimously endorsed such a proposal by Councilman Tyrone Yates, law committee chairman.

On Monday, Mr. Shirey released a review that concluded Officer Douglas Depodesta's actions were justified in the shooting of Lorenzo Collins. The officer is off the streets pending a psychiatric evaluation.

Mr. Depodesta and a University of Cincinnati police officer fired at Mr. Collins, 25, a mental patient who was holding a brick, shortly after he escaped Feb. 23 from a ward at University Hospital. The officers hit him with three shots, and he died five days later. Council members were briefed before the report was released Monday.

"The city manager's decision, yes, is final, but that does not make his decision infallible," said Mr. Yates. "Ultimately, the public has to decide whether the decision is right."

Council also called for Mr. Shirey to direct enough resources to the city's municipal investigations office that its investigation of the Collins case is finished by Aug. 4, the date of the Law Committee meeting.

Council further adopted a statement expressing "its deepest sympathy to the family of Mr. Lorenzo Collins for his death."

But a majority rebuffed Mayor Roxanne Qualls' motion that laid out items a Justice Department mediator should review in his work on police-community relations in Cincinnati. The mediator is scheduled to start in mid-July.

Previous stories

POLICE ORDERED TO CARRY BATONS July 2, 1997
REVIEWS CLEAR POLICE IN COLLINS SHOOTING July 1, 1997
COLLINS CASE IS BEING DISTORTED An Editorial, June 8, 1997
POLICE SUPPORT OFFICERS IN SHOOTINGS June 5, 1997
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