COLUMBUS, Ohio — Anthony Peters never expected to be caught in the middle of an unfortunate series of events that ended with a sergeant shooting a suspect in Columbus on Wednesday.
Peters was dropping off an Uber Eats order at Fairfield Medical Center on Wednesday morning before going upstairs to visit his sick mother-in-law.
He said he pulled up to the front of the hospital and left his car running while he stood outside to wait for his customer.
“There were two valet gentlemen standing right there. Next thing I know, I hear the gentlemen say ‘um that is not your car’ and, hear him say, ‘she is taking your car, she is taking your car,'” Peters said. “I took off running after her and she went down the street and a gentleman tried to stop her. She almost hit one of the valet guys and then down the street a gentleman stepped in front of her car and she went right for him, he had to jump out of the way.”
Peters would not see his car again until he turned on the news later that afternoon.
“I was like, that is my car and I couldn’t believe it. I just kind of sat there for a minute thinking I just paid my car off, why did you have to do this,” Peters said.
Police had spotted the suspect, now identified as Holly Graham, 32, in Columbus in the area of East Dublin Granville Road.
Officers said Graham hit a sergeant with the vehicle as officers were trying to use stop sticks to prevent her from fleeing the area.
They said she continued driving around the Huntley Square parking lot with the sergeant on the hood of her car when he fired several shots at her.
The sergeant fell off the car and Graham tried to drive away, hitting two other vehicles head-on near Interstate 71.
Graham is in police custody at Riverside Methodist Hospital with serious injuries. She is charged with felonious assault.
The sergeant, who has been with the Columbus Division of Police for 10 years, is described to be in "stable" condition.
The drivers of the other two vehicles Graham hit were treated on the scene.
Peters was still trying to process all of this Thursday morning.
“I was hoping the police officer was fine first of all, I didn’t care about my car at that time. How could she do this, why would you do this,” he said.
Peters said he did have a brief interaction with the suspect before she got in his car.
“She came out of the hospital and asked if I had a light and I don’t smoke and that’s all there was to the conversation between me and the lady,” he said.
Now he is working with insurance and police while dealing with a sick family member.
He said he will never leave his car running again.
“I am just really disappointed in people sometimes when they do something like this,” he said. “I have come a long way in my life, why can’t you, that is how I look at it.”