Police1 Staff Report
(MANTUA TOWNSHIP, Ohio) -- Two state patrolmen were forced to shoot and kill an unarmed man after he resisted arrest, assaulted one of the officers and tried to carjack four cars on the highway, according to authorities.
Wayne Wright, 33, died from a bullet to the lung on Dec. 31 after he struggled with troopers during a drunk driving stop.
About 8:30 p.m. Trooper Rudy Zupanc, 27, pulled Wright over on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. In the middle of a field sobriety test Wright ran away from the trooper up an embankment on the opposite side of the highway, police said.
Trooper Christopher Barnes, 29, who was providing backup, commanded the suspect down from his perch, but, once down, Wright continued to resist arrest. Troopers use pepper spray and struck him with a baton, but Wright continued to struggle.
The suspect even managed to take away Zupanc’s flashlight, which he used to strike the officer in the head nearly knocking him unconscious.
According to police reports, Wright then ran into the highway and attempted to commandeer at least three cars, breaking the window of at least one of them with the flashlight.
Barnes and Zupanc then fired on the Wright, killing him.
Both troopers have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation. Investigators are currently interviewing witnesses.
“This guy was running around like crazy, fighting with troopers and trying to get into cars,” Robert Safos, who was returning from a ski trip with his wife and three sons, told the Akron Beacon Journal. “We saw him heading toward us and thought, ‘Oh, geez,’ and started fumbling for the door locks,” he said. “That is when he shattered the rear-side window where my 11-year-old son was sitting.”
Safos told the newspaper that he drove away before Wright could do anymore damage. His son was not injured.