Thief found not guilty of assaulting officer

[The Straight Story]

Thief found not guilty of assaulting officer

An East Side man has been found guilty of shoplifting but not guilty of assaulting a Columbus police officer as he made his escape.


On April 7, Homer Hendrix III went into a Kohl's department-store dressing room on S. Hamilton Road with a cart load of clothes and came out wearing many of them, his added girth giving security officers probable cause to follow him and call Columbus police.

Hendrix had left a car running in the parking lot and made it there as an undercover officer arrived in an unmarked van.

Officer Brett Bodell fired two shots, striking Hendrix in the shoulder through his windshield, as Hendrix tried to ram the officer's van. Security videotapes caught the action outside.

During his trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, Hendrix, 37, of Meridian Road, said he didn't know the vehicle was being driven by a police officer and denied using his four-door sedan as a weapon. He admitted to shoplifting.

"He's guilty of stealing," defense attorney Larry Thomas told jurors.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/05/18/man-acquitted-of-officer-assault.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101