Prosecutor: Ohio police shot Indiana driver in self-defense; no charges

CINCINNATI (AP) — Ohio police officers who shot a man while responding to a report of a possible burglary used lethal force appropriately and won’t be charged, a Cincinnati-area prosecutor said Friday.

Two officers from the city of Wyoming fired at Joe Frasure Jr. early Monday after he ignored commands to stop and nearly hit one of them as he drove a van toward them in a confined space between two buildings, authorities said. Police body-camera footage of the nighttime confrontation shows the vehicle driving forward and the officers yelling for him to stop.

Though it’s unclear whether he was trying to intentionally target police or to flee, the officers’ response was reasonable because they felt their lives were in danger as Frasure accelerated, Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers said.

The 28-year-old Frasure, who was from Lawrenceburg, Indiana, died Tuesday at a Cincinnati hospital, according to the coroner’s office.

The officers had been responding to a neighbor’s report about a possible burglary happening at an apartment building that was supposed to be vacant, Powers said.

Authorities said Frasure and his father fled when police confronted them behind the building. Both men had active warrants related to previous charges or convictions, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Frasure’s father told WLWT-TV they were there cleaning up the apartment of a relative who had died.