Ohio police kill 16-year-old in courthouse
By
Trévon Austin
22 January 2018
Joseph Hanes, 16, was fatally shot by a deputy during a juvenile courtroom hearing on Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio. Chief Deputy Rick Minerd of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department said Haynes was attending a hearing about a firearms charge when his family members and a deputy got into an altercation. At some point, the deputy shot Haynes in the abdomen.
Haynes was taken to a local hospital, where he died half an hour later. According to police, the deputy involved was taken to another hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Chief Deputy Minerd said the deputy had been “knocked to the ground as part of that altercation, where he came under attack from some of the folks that were involved—family members.”
Geraldine Haynes, Joseph’s grandmother, described the incident and said the struggle began after the deputy pushed Haynes’ mother against a wall when attempting to escort her out of the courtroom.
“Joey went over grabbed him by his shoulders and the guy slung him around and slung Joey to the ground. And then he got on top of Joey,” she said. “And then Joey’s hands were up in the air like that and the cop with his hand down by his side and the gun went off, he pulled the trigger on my grandson.”
“He pulled the trigger on my grandson,” she said. “He was trying to get his life together, now he won’t have a chance.”
Joseph’s mother, Karen Haynes, told Columbus Dispatch, “My son grabbed him by his shoulders and said get off my mom, you’re not gonna put your hands on my mom. The cop grabbed him flipped him over and was on top of him with his gun.”
Karen Haynes told reporters through tears, “It was so close it was like a muffled pillow shot and my…