A federal judge has ruled against the estate of the man who was shot and killed by a Struthers police officer in April of 2022.

The ruling was made in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in April of 2023 by the estate of James Sheets after a grand jury declined to indict the officer who shot and killed Sheets.

The shooting stemmed from a police chase on April 1, 2022, that began at the intersection of State Street and Short Street in Struthers and led officers to the intersection of Steel Street and Salt Springs Road in Youngstown.

According to court documents, the chase began after Struthers Police Captain Matthew Haus became suspicious of Sheets after seeing his vehicle parked in the middle of the road in an area known for catalytic converter thefts and "criminal elements." Haus tried to initiate a traffic stop after noticing the vehicle's registration had expired.

Court documents state that Sheets pulled over to stop at the Wildcat Drive Thru, but "aggressively reversed" out of the parking lot and nearly struck Haus's cruiser. It was then that Haus initiated the chase.

Once Sheets was stopped, Haus and Officer Thomas Schneeman began to deploy a taser on him until Schneeman loudly yelled that Sheets had a gun and fired several rounds into the vehicle. Sheets was pronounced dead at the scene.

An investigation conducted by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI) found that a black handgun was located on the driver's side floorboard with one round in the chamber and 11 rounds in the magazine.

Court documents state that Sheets's DNA was found on the gun.

According to the court documents, Sheets's estate claimed that the pursuit violated the Struthers Police Department's pursuit policy, claiming it prohibits "high-speed pursuit with a vehicle over a misdemeanor infraction."

However, the court states that the policy actually states that the decision to initiate a pursuit depends on several factors, including "the seriousness of the known or reasonably suspected crime" or "the apparent nature of the fleeing suspect."

"The videotape footage of the security camera shows Sheets wildly exiting the Wildcat Drive-Thru by reversing out of the parking lot, nearly striking Haus's patrol vehicle in the process. Haus reasonably believed Sheets's vehicle struck or attempted to strike him. This gave Haus reason to suspect that Sheets had attempted to assault him - a felony in the fourth degree," the document reads.

Furthermore, Sheets's estate argued that there is a factual dispute on whether the gun is visible on Schneeman's body camera or if Haus saw it. However, the court rejected this argument as well.

"The focus is not whether the entire event is captured with perfect clarity. Rather, the question is whether the evidence viewed as a whole demonstrates that a reasonable jury could find in favor of Sheets. In this instance, no reasonable jury could find that Sheets did not draw the weapon, given its location immediately after the shooting, the DNA evidence and Officer Schneeman's testimony regarding Sheets's use of it," the judge wrote.

RELATED COVERAGE: