Deputy Shoots New Carlisle News Photographer

A Columbus Police Officer examines the body of a young hispanic male who was found shot and dead in the front seat of a Volkswagen in the middle of Allegheny Avenue shortly after 9 PM Friday night May 14, 2004. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by Columbus paramedics. The Columbus PD Homicide squad is investigating the incident. (© James D. DeCamp | http://www.JamesDeCamp.com | 614-367-6366)

I was on the streets of Columbus for more than 20 years photographing spot news for the Columbus Dispatch and other publications and have a fare share of horror stories to tell, but none compares to this:

A Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy shot an Ohio news photographer after confusing his camera and tripod for a weapon, according to the paper. New Carlisle News photographer Andy Grimm was shot in the side as he unloaded a tripod from his vehicle to take pictures of a traffic stop around 10 p.m. Monday September 4, 2017.

Without warning, the deputy opened fire as Grimm was setting up the tripod. The photographer said he and the deputy knew each other.
“I turned around from the Jeep and it seemed like instant, I heard pop-pop,” Grimm said from his hospital bed.

One bullet struck him in the chest and Grimm said another may have grazed his shoulder.
The officer that wounded the cameraman rushed over to help, repeatedly saying, “I thought it was a gun,” Grimm said.
“Now that I’m OK, I’m not so much mad, but when I was on the ground and in the back of the ambulance, I was kind of angry at him,” Grimm said.
New Carlisle News Publisher Dale Grimm said the photographer — his son — left work minutes before the shooting to chase a lightning storm passing over the small town, which boasts a population of about 5,700 people 20 miles north of Dayton. He encountered the traffic stop and turned his camera toward that instead.

He learned of the shooting when Grimm called from the ambulance.
“He said there was no warning, no ‘show me hands’ or ‘drop what you have,'” the paper owner said, while changing Tuesday’s front page to reflect his son’s shooting around 3 a.m.

From the hospital, Grimm retraced his steps leading up to the shooting, wondering what caused the deputy to reach for his gun.
“Until I hear his side, I guess I won’t know what I did wrong,” Grimm said.
The state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation is probing the incident, but Grimm’s father said his son isn’t looking for swift punishment.
“Andy does not want him to get fired,” Grimm said, calling the shooting a misunderstanding.

Update 5/4/2019:

NEW CARLISLE, Ohio (AP) — A photojournalist shot by a sheriff’s deputy while preparing to photograph a late-night traffic stop has settled a federal civil rights lawsuit against the deputy and a central Ohio county.

The Springfield News-Sun reports Andrew Grimm says he’s glad about this week’s settlement and plans to move from Clark County, where he’s lived much of his life. Grimm wouldn’t provide the settlement amount.

Grimm had gone into New Carlisle in September 2017 to photograph a lightning storm and was about to photograph a traffic stop when Clark County Deputy Jacob Shaw shot him. Shaw’s body camera recorded him telling Grimm, whom he knew, that he thought Grimm had a gun.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office says the settlement is satisfactory to both parties.

A grand jury cleared Shaw of wrongdoing.