Autopsy: Deputy shot Casey Goodson Jr. 5 times in the back
A final coroner’s report classified Casey Goodson Jr.’s death as a homicide, saying the 23-year-old died after being shot five times in the back by a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Casey Goodson Jr., a Black man, was shot five times in the back by a white Ohio sheriff’s deputy last December, according to a final coroner’s report released Thursday.
The final autopsy confirmed statements previously made by Goodson's family that the 23-year-old died after former Franklin County sheriff’s deputy Jason Meade shot him multiple times in the back and torso. Relatives say Goodson was opening the door to his grandmother’s house at the time.
“This family and this city have been through enough trauma and our healing cannot begin until Meade is held accountable for this heinous act," Sean Walton, one of the attorneys for Goodson’s family, said in a statement Wednesday night.
"Jason Meade is a threat to the community and public safety each and every day that he continues to be free,” he added.
The Franklin County coroner listed the cause of death as a homicide — a medical determination used in cases where someone has died at someone else’s hand, but not a legal finding. It doesn’t imply criminal intent.
The shooting took place on Dec. 4 while Meade, a 17-year veteran of the sheriff's office, was finishing up an unsuccessful search for a fugitive as part of a U.S. Marshals Office fugitive task force.
U.S. Marshal Peter Tobin has said that on the day of the shooting, Meade confronted the victim outside his home after Goodson, who was not the subject of the fugitive search, drove by and waved a gun at Meade.
One witness heard Meade command the victim to drop his gun, and when he didn’t, the deputy shot him, Tobin said after the shooting. The family has said Goodson had a sandwich, not a gun, in his hand.
Even if Goodson had been carrying a gun, the family reiterated, he had a license to do so.
Officials said that a gun was recovered from the scene but have not provided further details.
“My grandson just got shot in the back when he came in the house,” Goodson’s grandmother told a dispatcher shortly after, according to 911 recordings obtained by The Associated Press. “I don’t know if he’s OK.”
Shortly after the shooting, Tobin held a press conference where he called the shooting justified, a statement he later retracted.
While Meade had been working with a U.S. Marshals task force earlier in the day, both the Marshals and the sheriff’s office later said he was on his own time when the shooting happened. Mark Collins the deputy's attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case remains under criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney's office with help from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division
Once the investigation is complete, Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack's office will review the autopsy before making a decision on whether to charge Meade. The deputy remains on administrative leave from the sheriff's office.
Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin said the final autopsy released Thursday “doesn’t provide all of the facts needed to give us those answers,” and that he will wait until the criminal investigation is complete before pursuing any disciplinary action against Meade.
“I want to be clear that the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office use of force policies prohibits any deputy from using deadly force against anyone who doesn’t pose an immediate threat to the officer or to others,” Baldwin said in a statement. “However, I also want to emphasize that criminal investigations over the years have shown that the physical location of gunshot wounds alone do not always tell the entire story of what happened.”
___
Farnoush Amiri is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.