Bodycam footage to be released in Wyoming officer-involved shooting

WYOMING, Ohio (WXIX) - The Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office will hold a press conference and release the bodycam footage Friday in the officer-involved shooting that left a 28-year-old man dead, according to Wyoming Police Chief Brooke Brady.

Brady issued a video message Tuesday afternoon after reviewing the body-worn camera footage. In the message, she offered new details about the shooting that clarify family claims from Monday night. But analyzing Brady’s message also reveals some questions that may be answered Friday.

Wyoming police officers responded to an apartment on Durrell Avenue Monday around 12:40 a.m. for a reported burglary. “The 911 caller described two to three persons inside a residence that should have been vacant,” Brady said.

Officers found two suspects in the back of the property and issued “repeated” commands, according to a Wyoming police department statement Monday evening.

Brady on Tuesday said the two people were 28-year-old Joe Frasure and his father and that Frasure was already in the minivan when officers encountered him. That appears to conflict with Monday morning’s joint statement from Brady and Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey, which said Frasure “entered the vehicle, not obeying commands to stop.” The department statement from Monday evening said only “one suspect was in a motor vehicle[...]”

[Family says man shot by police was helping clean out late grandmother’s home]

Brady said the officers commanded Frasure to get out of the van and he refused.

The van then “reversed at a high rate of speed before hitting a tree, at which point the vehicle accelerated rapidly at our officers,” Brady said.

The statements appear to have some contradictory language. The morning joint statement reads: The driver attempted “to flee the scene in a hurry.” And from the department statement later that night: “The fleeing suspect [...]attempted to leave the scene.”

Brady on Tuesday said the officers fired four shots at the van as it was accelerating toward them. She doesn’t say whether the minivan was still in reverse at the time. It’s an important point because the family said Monday night Frasure was shot three times in the back of the head.

Another example of a possible contradiction is the joint statement that says the minivan “almost struck an officer[...] causing that officer and another officer on scene to fire their duty weapons at the subject.” The timeline given by Brady in the video suggests the officers fired after Frasure had already allegedly tried and failed to hit the officer. The department statement, however, notes the officers “defended themselves by discharging their service weapons in an attempt to stop the approaching vehicle.”

Brady continued: “After the shots were fired, the minivan struck the building and became disabled. With the vehicle smoking and the engine still revving, our officers forced their way into the minivan and pulled Mr. Frasure from it. They then provided life-saving care, and he was transported to [UCMC].”

Wyoming police are cooperating with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office in the investigation and review.

Prosecutor Missy Powers will decide if any charges will be filed against the officers who fired their weapons.

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