The family of a man killed by an Ohio cop who had placed himself behind the man’s car as he was backing out before firing several shots, then claiming to have been in fear for his life, agreed to a settlement this week.
But the settlement over Michael Whitmer’s wrongful death lawsuit will remain confidential under the agreement, according to the Athens County Independent.
And the cop who shot and killed him, Cecil Morrison, was charged with misdemeanor negligent homicide, pleading no contest.
A judge found him guilty, ordering him to surrender his state law enforcement certification to avoid a jail sentence, making it impossible to ever work as a cop again in Ohio.
Whitmer’s 4-year-old son who was sitting in a car seat in the back seat was injured by flying shrapnel, mostly shattered glass, from the shooting, according to the lawsuit filed on behalf of Whitmer.
And the other cop on the scene, Nelsonville police officer KJ Tracy, was also injured by flying shrapnel.
Watch the video below.
The Shooting
The incident took place on July 27, 2021, after Nelsonville police responded to a domestic violence complaint that is described in the lawsuit as “raised voices coming from Michael’s apartment.”
Tracy arrived and parked his patrol car behind Whitmer’s car, which had been parked in the front driveway of his building, but Whitmer stepped into his car with his son and closed the door, prompting Tracy to draw his gun, ordering him out of the car, threatening to shatter the glass.
Meanwhile, Morrison, who was employed by nearby Hocking College as a police officer, arrived on the scene to assist Tracy, pulling out his own gun.
Whitmer, who was unarmed, began backing out through a small gap that had not been blocked by police, making three attempts before he was able to do so.
Morrison, who had been standing off to the side of Whitmer’s car, then ran up behind it, standing slightly to the left side of the car as it started driving away, firing several shots into the car.
According to the lawsuit filed in July 2022:
Any danger to Defendant Morrison from the backing Chevrolet sedan was a result of Defendant Morrison unreasonably and without necessity choosing to position himself behind the sedan he knew was trying to back out, rather than choosing to position himself where he could not be struck by the backing sedan.
Even after unreasonably and unnecessarily choosing to position himself behind the backing sedan, Mr. Morrison was not only able to avoid being struck by it but was able to fire six shots into the vehicle while back peddling.
Had Defendant Morrison chosen not to back peddle and shoot into the car he could even more easily have gotten out of the way of the backing car than he did.
The shots Defendant Morrison fired at Michael constituted the use of deadly force.
Defendant Morrison’s use of deadly force to seize Michael’s person was unreasonable.
Defendant Morrison was not justified in using deadly force on Michael by a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to himself.
New Job
Five months after the shooting, Morrison was hired by the Nelsonville Police Department, according to the Logan Daily News.
“I have no idea why Nelsonville would go (and) hire a Hocking College police officer (who) was just involved in a shooting and that resulted in someone’s death with a child in the car,” Whitmer’s wife, Chelsea Whitmer, told local media at the time.
“I have no idea what they were thinking.”
Nelsonville Police Chief Scott Fitch defended the hiring of Morrison at the time.
“I knew this was pending, but I’ve investigated a lot of officer-involved shootings in my career,” he told local media.
“And after reviewing all the videos, after reviewing the totality of the circumstances, it was my opinion that he did not violate any crime. So I offered him the job.”
But a judge disagreed with the chief after a criminal complaint was filed against Morrison in March 2022, convicting him within days, sparing him a jail sentence if he agreed to give up his law enforcement certification.
Chelsea Whitmer provided the following witness statement to the court, according to local media:
“I would like to address Cecil Morrison. The night you thoughtlessly, arrogantly and selfishly shot my husband (five) times in front of our (four-year-old) son haunts my children and (me), every single day. There are some days I can almost make it through without remembering what Michael looked like on that day.
Other days I almost make it through without hearing my son cry out, ‘HE shot my daddy, mommy! He’s dead!’ and it never fails that every day I am reminded of what you took from us. YOU took my best friend in this entire world, the man I just married, the memories and the life we planned on living. They’re all gone.
You took my kids’ hero. I hate you for that and I do want you and everyone else who thinks what you did was justifiable to feel some of our pain. To feel a piece of the hurt we carry around (every day).”
Chelsea Whitmer also told local media that she was “happy that I never have to worry that he’ll be on the streets again.”
But Morrison can still become a cop in another state if he obtains certification from that state, although it appears at this time he still lives in Ohio.
