DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — The family of a man who was hit and killed by a Springfield Police Department cruiser last June announced they filed a civil lawsuit against those they feel could have prevented his death.
The lawsuit alleges that the Springfield Police Department told the truth about Eric Cole’s cause of death only after the coroner revealed that it was blunt force trauma from the police cruiser, not the survivable gunshot wound to the shoulder.
The lawsuit also names Erin Reynolds and Mary Herge, two dispatchers, as defendants in the case. The lawsuit alleges that both dispatchers failed to properly relay Cole’s location to officers responding to the scene.
The family also feels that police failed to notify EMS promptly that Cole was run over, preventing him from receiving lifesaving medical care, according to the release.
INITAL REPORT
On June 13, 2021, police were dispatched to a home on South Center Boulevard after getting calls about gunshots. Eric Cole, 42, had been shot and was laying on the road while on the phone with emergency services when he was struck by a police SUV.
Cole was then taken to Springfield Regional Medical Center before he was flown via CareFlight to Miami Valley Hospital where he was pronounced dead around midnight.
The Montgomery County Coroner later confirmed that Cole had died from blunt force trauma and ruled his death to be an accident. The case was handed to the Grand Jury to decide whether any criminal action had been made during the collation.
They determined there was no sufficient evidence of criminal activity and did not indict anyone in Cole’s death.
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The family announced the lawsuit Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 12 p.m.
You can watch the full event in the video player above.
