New details in Lorain officer-involved shooting: Officer stabbed in neck

LORAIN, Ohio (WJW) — It’s a new look inside a police-involved shooting.

The public is getting a graphic, “first-hand” look at the chaotic moments when a U.S. Marshals task force shot and killed a Lorain man, who they said attacked officers with a wooden table leg.

Police released body-worn camera video of the incident, which revealed even more about the case.

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The video starts with officers from the U.S. Marshals‘ Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force talking to a woman just after 8 a.m. last Thursday. They were serving a warrant on 34-year-old Derrick Smith at his home on West 21st Street in Lorain.

Smith was wanted on a probation violation for not appearing in federal court.

He had “a history of violence,” Brian Fitzgibbon, chief deputy of the U.S. Marshals Cleveland office, said last week.

When officers get upstairs, they get into a scuffle with the suspect in a tight hallway.

“Taser deployment twice, less-lethal force … ineffective,” explained Lorain Police Chief Jim McCann.

“This right here, that’s the suspect, that’s not a police officer,” he added.

The video then shows the suspect, still in the hallway, pull out a knife and stab one of the officers three times in the neck.

The intense scuffle moves into a small bedroom where Smith is seen wielding a wooden table leg that officers first thought was a baseball bat. Two officers were struck.

“The knife’s still in his hand,” explained McCann.

When the video is slowed down, it shows the knife is still in Smith’s other hand.

McCann said it appears one officer was going to go hand-to-hand with the suspect, until he saw the knife.

“If you see his elbow here, it appears in the video only that he may have lowered his weapon or holstered his weapon and once the knife was re-brandished, he re-drew or re-brought his weapon from the low position back up,” said McCann.

The video shows Smith in the corner swinging the wooden table leg and knife, and when he appears to move toward the officers, one opens fire.

“We’re gonna need an ambulance here, OK?” said an officer after the suspect went down.

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FOX 8 News reached out to Smith’s family. A relative told us they have seen the video for themselves, but at this time they have no comment.

All three injured officers were treated and released from the hospital that same day.

McCann said Lorain police and U.S. Marshals plan to hold a news conference to talk about the case after the investigation is complete.

Three officers were hurt, and for the first time, we’re learning from the video that the suspect stabbed one officer in the neck three times.

Lorain police showed the media the entire video, without taking questions. They are leading this investigation with help from detectives in Elyria and Amherst.

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