COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The mother of deceased 20-year-old Donovan Lewis, alongside her legal team, on Tuesday pleaded at a press conference that the Columbus police officer who shot and killed her son in August be fired and arrested.

Five months and one day after Columbus Division of Police Officer Ricky Anderson fatally shot Lewis — who was sitting in bed while CPD attempted to serve an arrest warrant in the Hilltop — mother Rebecca Duran said she believes little to no accountability has been brought to his case since. 

The reinvigorated calls for action come after Memphis officials released body camera and street surveillance videos Friday night of the violent beating and arrest of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, who died three days later on Jan. 10. 

Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn David said she was unprepared to see the aftermath of what was initially a traffic stop on screen, calling the actions taken by law enforcement “disregard for a human being” that she has not seen before. Duran said she avoided watching most of the footage.

“I don’t need to see a lot to know exactly what happened,” Duran said. “It happens way too often, and it continues to happen.”

Seven MPD officers, in connection with Nichols’ case, have since been fired or relieved of duty — and five of them face murder charges, after being arrested and released on bond Thursday. Three Memphis Fire Department EMTs were also terminated. 

Duran and the family’s attorneys, Rex Elliot and Michael Wright, commended the city of Memphis for what Elliot described as action taken “swiftly, properly, and immediately.”

“That is true leadership,” Elliot said. “It stands in stark contrast to what has happened here in the city of Columbus.”

The night of Aug. 30, CPD officers went to an apartment building on Sullivant Avenue to serve an arrest warrant, where released body camera footage showed them knocking on a door for eight to 10 minutes. The warrant was for charges facing Lewis that included domestic violence and assault, according to Franklin County Municipal Court records.

After arresting two people, one who answered the door and one who was inside the entrance, officers released a K9 unit into the apartment. 

When the police dog began to bark at a bedroom door, footage showed how Anderson approached the door with a second officer, opened it with his gun drawn, and shot Lewis — sitting on the bed, unarmed — within one second. Lewis died minutes later, according to an October autopsy report. 

“An arrest warrant doesn’t equal a death sentence, and so therefore, everyone, I mean, the way that our judicial system is set up, everyone deserves their day in court, and he did not get that,” Duran said.

After the shooting, CPD placed Anderson on leave pending an investigation.

“And here we sit, five months later,” Elliot said Tuesday.

A spokesperson for Mayor Andrew Ginther’s office said in a statement Tuesday afternoon the city is committed to “holding officers accountable.”

“It’s important to remember this family has lost a child,” the statement read. “We continue to lift them up as we build a culture of trust and implement the change and reforms our community deserves.”

But Duran expressed frustration, both at the press conference and at a community conversation about policing Monday night, that little back-and-forth had occurred between her and the city or Columbus police, and that no other action has materialized.

“What more do you need, than that video, for an indictment?” Duran said.

A grand jury in Franklin County will ultimately decide whether Anderson is prosecuted. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations finished and forwarded its investigative report Dec. 8 on to Franklin County prosecutors — the state agency is often tasked with investigating shootings that involve police officers, including deadly uses of force.

Tim Merkle, a Franklin County special prosecutor, said in a statement Wednesday the grand jury’s process — which is still ongoing in Anderson’s case — for reviewing any lethal use of force “can be time consuming.”

“We are dedicated to achieving justice in this matter,” Merkle said.