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No charges in Crawford 911 call

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Greene County News Report

FAIRBORN — A special prosecutor has declined to file charges against Ronald Ritchie, the man who made the 911 call bringing police to Wal-Mart in Beavercreek the day John Crawford III was shot and killed.

In a document filed in Fairborn Municipal Court Monday afternoon, Mark Piepmeier said charges are not warranted against Ritchie. Judge Beth Root previously ruled there was probably cause to charge Ritchie in relation to the shooting death of Crawford in 2014.

Ritchie was inside the Beavercreek Wal-Mart when he made a 911 call telling police a man was walking around the store with a gun.

According to Piepmeier’s ruling, “O.R.C. 2917.32 Making False Alarms requires a finding that the defendant knew that the information he was transmitting was false. I don’t find any evidence that Mr. Ritchie knew any of the information he was providing was false.”

The ruling also said, “The original 911 call from Mr. Ritchie was basically ‘I’m at the Beavercreek Walmart and there is a man walking around with a gun in the store.’ The remainder of his conversation was mostly answers in response to questions from the dispatcher. The original probably cause determination made by the Court was without the benefit of additional evidence myself and the Greene County Grand Jury had …”

The grand jury did not bring charges against the Beavercreek police officers or Ritchie.

A federal investigation into the case is still ongoing.

Crawford III
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2016/04/web1_crawfordtoned-4.jpgCrawford III

Greene County News Report compiled by Scott Halasz.