ORIENT, Ohio — New documents provided Tuesday by the attorney of the widow of Lt. Rodney Osborne show that he was shot by his instructor during a training session in April.
The documents, totaling hundreds of pages, include the Ohio State Highway Patrol investigation, witness interviews and coroner reports. Those were just provided to the family’s attorney. OSHP has not released those to 10TV.
According to the investigation, Lt. Rodney Osborne, along with 14 others, was taking part in a 40-hour training exercise for the Special Tactics and Response Team at the Corrections Training Academy in Orient. It was led by Commander David Pearson and five other S.T.A.R instructors.
Pearson led his students through several shooting exercises after completing a safety briefing. The shooting exercises begin with firing live rounds on the firing range to improve proficiency. The documents say Pearson then instructed everyone to line up and make their pistols “safe and clear.” Once their pistols were cleared, Pearson led them through a dry firing drill, meaning the pistols were not loaded.
In his statement to his attorney, Pearson said he noticed that Lt. Osborne was struggling to draw his pistol from his holster and get it leveled on the target. He then stepped in front of Osborne to do what he calls a “mirror drill.” He instructed Osborne to mirror his actions while the two were standing face to face. Both Pearson and Osborne drew their pistols. When Pearson pulled the trigger, his pistol went off and the round hit Osborne in the chest, documents say.
The OSHP said the ODRC’s policies and procedures do not reference a “mirror drill,” but there are some instances where someone can point a firearm at another person if certain conditions are met.
Those conditions are:
- The weapon shall be checked three (3) separate times – by the students holding the weapon, the instructor, and another individual (e.g., another student or instructor) – to ensure the weapon is not loaded and is, therefore, safe.
- Students and instructors shall remove all ammunition and appropriately store it away from the immediate area where the training is being conducted.
The report reads “prior to the shooting, Mr. Pearson’s actions did not meet the specific conditions required by ODRC policy and procedure to point his firearm at Mr. Osborne.”
Several of the reports from witnesses noted that Pearson was the only instructor known to them to use this drill. However, many noted that he took firearm safety to the point of being “annoying” and said he’s the last person they would think this could happen to. Also noted is that they believe Pearson truly believed his gun was not loaded at the time.
The coroner’s report is also included in the documents.
According to that report, Osborne was shot on the right side of his chest just above the line of his bulletproof vest. The bullet damaged his ribs, right lung, along with the aorta and right pulmonary artery. The bullet was recovered from the back portion of his vest.
Pearson pleaded not guilty to the negligent homicide charge against him earlier in August. If convicted, he could spend six years behind bars for the misdemeanor. He has a pretrial hearing scheduled for September.