COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – There will be no criminal case against the Columbus police officers who shot and killed Miles Jackson in 2021.
A Franklin County grand jury announced Wednesday that it voted not to indict Mt. Carmel St. Ann’s Hospital security or officers from the Columbus Division of Police who were involved in the deadly incident. Police had a shootout with Jackson inside a medical examination room after he was brought there for treatment for the second time in one day.
*Body camera video from the incident, which contains graphic content, is below*
Paramedics first found Jackson on April 12, 2021, on the ground and unresponsive in the parking lot of a convenience store. After giving him Narcan, they took him to St. Ann’s for treatment where he woke up. Ignoring medical staff’s requests, he left the hospital, according to Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Gary Tyack.
Around an hour later, Westerville police found a confused Jackson lying on a picnic table near a bank parking lot. A medical team took him back to St. Ann’s, but Westerville police discovered Jackson also had a warrant for his arrest, Tyack said.
Columbus police got involved after being notified of the warrant and planned to take Jackson into custody after he was released from the hospital. Tyack said Jackson complied with officers’ orders until they patted him down to check for his belongings and discovered a gun.
As two officers checked Jackson’s pockets and the front of his pants during the pat-down, body camera video from the incident showed they pushed Jackson against a hospital bed while trying to restrain his arms. One of them tased Jackson in the back, but this did not stop him and the three struggled and fell to the floor. While on the ground and while the officer continued tasing him, Jackson fired his gun once. The officer with the taser ran out of the room while the other officer fired one shot. The bodycam video showed the officer struggling with his gun as it jammed after firing, and he remained in the corner of the room with Jackson during the rest of the incident.
More police arrived and spent five minutes shouting commands at Jackson, who stayed on the ground for the rest of incident. One of them tased Jackson, and laboratory testing confirmed he fired two more shots before multiple officers returned fire.
St. Ann’s staff tried to treat Jackson’s wounds after the shooting, but he died at the hospital. An autopsy toxicology report later found Jackson had fentanyl and norfentanyl in his system. None of the officers involved were hurt, but a bullet passed through the sleeve of one of the Columbus police member’s uniforms, according to Tyack.
