LIBERTY - The police officer who shot a suspect who crashed into a Harbor Freight store in Liberty Township will not be facing any charges, according to a report from the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office.

Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Becker tells 21 News that the shooting of a suspect at the Harbor Freight store in the Belmont Plaza was determined to be justified, and the officer will not face any charges.

The incident happened on December 16, 2024, when Liberty Police received a notification about a stolen vehicle from a Flock camera license plate reader. The vehicle in question was located in the Harbor Freight parking lot.

Officers boxed the vehicle in the parking lot to prevent the driver, identified as 31-year-old Jason Cain, from leaving, but police said Cain rammed into the cruisers, putting officers' and bystanders' lives at risk.

Sergeant George Bednar shot at and struck Cain, and the vehicle crashed into the store before coming to a stop. Cain later died in the hospital.

Sergeant Bednar's case was presented to a Trumbull County grand jury, which heard two days' worth of testimony from 13 different witnesses, including other officers who were at the scene, an employee at the store and a passenger who was in the vehicle with Cain.

The store employee testified that she was on break and sitting in her car when she suddenly saw several police cruisers surrounding the car next to hers. She then crouched down and heard five to six gunshots, and then noticed that the car had crashed into the store.

The passenger in the vehicle with Cain testified that in the days leading up to the incident, she and Cain walked to a home in Vienna Township and met with a person who gave them a ride to Cain's ex-girlfriend's house in Sharpsville.

The passenger further testified that she had separated from Cain when he was talking with his ex-girlfriend and Cain later pulled up in his ex-girlfriend's Jeep. She testified that she thought Cain had permission to use the vehicle.

Testimony revealed that the two were sitting in the car and talking when police showed up.

"And then outta nowhere, a big truck pulled in, and nose to nose with us, and all the sudden the next thing I remember, they just said, 'Put your hands up.' I was confused. I didn't know what was happening," the passenger said.

The passenger testified that Cain had been using the car for about four days and told her it belonged to his ex-girlfriend. She testified that police told her it was reported as stolen.

One of the officers who responded to the scene testified that he saw Cain putting the vehicle in reverse and heard the engine revving before the vehicle backed up and struck an unmarked cruiser.

Sergeant Bednar testified that once he saw the unmarked cruiser get hit, he thought that Cain would try to ram into the other cruisers and run him over, so he fired at the vehicle, striking Cain.

"Honestly, at that point, even when he was ramming, I'm like 's**t, he's gonna come back and run us over, push us out of the way.' And then I fired, and then he decided to go forward after I'd fired," Bednar said.

Sergeant Bednar testified that he fired four more shots after Cain struck another cruiser.

"I was looking right at the vehicle, and I was trying to put my rounds right where the driver's seat area would be. Trying to eliminate the threat before he ran over one of the cops or ran over anybody and killed anybody," Bednar said.

Ultimately, the grand jury declined to indict Sergeant Bednar, clearing him of any charges in this matter. The Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office issued its own opinion concurring with the Grand Jury's decision.

"Given the video evidence, the eyewitness accounts, the striking of two different police vehicles and the forensic evidence recovered from the Jeep, it is clear that Jason Cain intended to use the Jeep as a deadly weapon in order to evade and escape arrest. Sgt. Bednar's use of force was reasonable, given that Cain was using the vehicle in a threatening or deadly manner, and Sgt. Bednar reasonably believed that he was required to use deadly force to defend his fellow officers from being seriously injured or killed," the report reads.

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