FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Two Fairfield Township police officers resigned after they did not use deadly force against an armed suspect, Chief Robert Chabali said.
Officers Austin Reed and Mark Bartlett resigned last week following the incident the week prior.
On the evening of Oct. 8, officers Reed and Bartlett were searching for Stephaun Jones, 25, after he shot and killed Sidney Printup, 25, investigators said. The shooting happened after the two men were involved in a car crash in the 1900 block of Fairgrove Avenue in Hamilton. According to witnesses, Jones also fired his gun into cars nearby while fleeing the scene.
According to police reports, officers Reed and Bartlett were the first to respond to the scene and encountered Jones in a yard off of Morris Road. When officers Bartlett and Reed left their cars, Jones pointed a gun at the officers and refused to listen to their commands.
"I was unable to take a shot at the male, due to a citizen mowing his lawn behind the male suspect," Bartlett wrote in the police report.
Jones left the yard and started to run away from the officers. Officer Reed deployed his Taser at Jones while he was running away from the officers, but did not hit Jones, the police report stated.
The officers lost sight of Jones and radioed for backup.
Watch body camera footage of officers searching for Jones
Two Hamilton police officers confronted Jones in the 6400 block of Tara Brook Court. When Jones pulled out a handgun, the Hamilton police officers opened fire, killing Jones.
On Wednesday, Chief Chabali said officers Reed and Bartlett had "voluntarily" resigned last week. Both officers were hired in February 2022.
“It’s been determined that our officers, two of them did not really do what they were supposed to do, and that is to use lethal force to stop the threat, the gentleman’s threat," Chabali said. "The gentleman was known to have a gun and that gun was observed and he leveled off at the officers with that pistol."
Chabali said even the use of the Taser was not appropriate.
“One of the officers inappropriately fired a Taser at him and that Taser was not the proper tool to use. You don’t use less lethal when you have someone armed with a lethal weapon," Chabali said.
Chabali said they did have the training to respond to a situation like this only a week before the incident.
“Unfortunately, it’s not my first time in my former agency we had this incident and it was determined that it was just the inability to take a human life and I believe that’s what we have here. They were properly trained," Chabali said. “And there’s research conducted to that affect that sometimes there are officers who cannot do the ultimate, and that is take a human life, and we have to be able do that no matter what the circumstances are, nationally, we have to be able to do that to protect society and ourselves."
Chabali said it was the right decision for the officers to resign and that the decision has no bearing on their personality or character.
"Ultimately, it was best for them to resign," Chabali said.
WCPO attempted to reach officers Reed and Bartlett. A number listed for officer Bartlett was disconnected. WCPO has not been able to find contact information for officer Reed.
The Bureau of Criminal Investigation determined that the two Hamilton officers' actions were lawful, proper and in full compliance with department policy. The officers have returned to full duty, the Hamilton Police Department said in a press release.
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