Akron Beacon Journal
CANAL FULTON, Ohio — City police are asking for the public’s help to keep a man who shot and injured an officer in 1995 in prison.
Inmate Christopher Monihan, who shot officer Ed Harbaugh, is up for parole next month.
“I think it’s just a message to any other person who thinks they want to attack a police officer,” Harbaugh told Beacon Journal partner News 5 Cleveland.
Police Chief Douglas Swartz is asking the public to write letters to the Ohio Parole Board asking the body to reject parole.
“HELP US KEEP THIS MAN BEHIND BARS!!!!” Swartz wrote in all capital letters on the department’s Facebook page.
Monihan, an Akron resident at the time, was 23 when he took Harbaugh’s gun and shot the officer three times during an arrest outside Skipco Auto Auction. Monihan had been wanted on warrants, including one for passing bad checks.
“Fortunately, officer Harbaugh’s life was miraculous[ly] saved by him wearing his bullet proof vest,” Swartz wrote. “With one bullet still lodged near his lung, and a brand new titanium arm, officer Harbaugh recovered from his injuries and still patrols your neighborhood today.”
Monihan was convicted of felonious assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and of aggravated robbery for taking Harbaugh’s gun. He was sentenced to first serve three years in prison for using the gun, then to complete two concurrent sentences of 10 to 25 years.
©2018 the Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)