Submitted image This image from the body camera of Struthers police officer Tom Schneeman shows two other officers standing by with weapons drawn on the vehicle where James Sheets was shot to death minutes earlier April 1, 2022, in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — The estate of James Sheets is suing the Struthers Police Department over the April 1, 2022, shooting death of Sheets in a chase that began in Struthers ended on Salt Springs Road in Youngstown.

Also named in the federal lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court are Struthers patrolman Tom Schneeman, Capt. Matt Haus, Chief Tim Roddy and others.

The filing alleges violations of Sheets’ civil rights and alleges that Schneeman did not have justification for shooting Sheets to death.

It states the defendants “engaged in acts and commissions which constituted deprivation of the constitutional rights, privileges and immunities” of the plaintiffs. It adds that the defendants “had no justification or excuse in law and were instead gratuitous, illegal, improper.”

The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office presented the matter to a county grand jury, which in January refused to indict Schneeman or Haus on any criminal charges.

Sheets, 35, was of Youngstown.

The suit alleges that the city and its police department failed to properly train Schneeman and the Sheets case “shows (the) Struthers Police Department has ignored, condoned and permitted a pattern of excessive force and abuse of process by its police force.”

DAMAGES SOUGHT

The lawsuit was filed by attorneys Frank Cassese and Corey Grimm, on behalf of Sheets’ two children, James and Legend; and his sister, Kayci Korchnak; and through attorney Tracie Schmidt, administrator of Sheets’ estate. The suit seeks in excess of $75,000 in damages.

It also names John and Jane Does, whom the suit alleges participated in the supervision, training and hiring of Schneeman. It alleges that a patrolman sent Roddy a letter prior to the hiring of Schneeman on July 1, 2017, as a part-time Struthers dispatcher that Schneeman had been charged with two counts of misdemeanor carrying concealed weapons and one count of misdemeanor resisting arrest.

The suit also alleges that the Struthers Police Department hired Schneeman in 2017 despite Schneeman having an “Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation qualifier of ‘Approach with Caution.'” The suit alleges the caution was related to Schneeman’s “criminal history.”

Roddy said he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment, especially until after he talks to Struthers Law Director John Zomoida Jr.

Zomoida said he does not know the specifics of Schneeman having some type of weapons conviction, but regarding the lawsuit’s contention that Schneeman was not justified in shooting Sheets, Zomoida said the grand jury found that “officer Schneeman did nothing wrong.”

If this civil suit “were go to to trial, the facts would come out that officer Schneeman did nothing wrong in this incident,” Zomoida said. “In my opinion this is a quick money grab, and the hope is the city is going to turn this over to its insurance carrier, and the insurance carrier will make a business decision to just settle the lawsuit for some amount of money.”

THE SHOOTING

Sheets was killed about 5:15 p.m. April 1 at Steel Street and Salt Springs Road on Youngstown’s West Side at the end of a chase involving Haus and Schneeman, who a Struthers police report states shot at Sheets after Sheets “produced a firearm.”

Video and audio recordings show Schneeman getting out of his cruiser as sirens wailed and immediately yelling, “Show me your hands” twice in about three seconds, then yelling, “Got a gun! Gun!” three seconds later. The gunfire begins one second later.

While the shots were being fired, Schneeman’s body camera captured Sheets only briefly. Schneeman’s arms seemed to block most of the view captured by his camera. Sheets appeared to be sitting normally in the brief glimpses of him.

After the shots stopped, Schneeman yelled to Haus, “Reloading. Reloading,” indicating he was reloading another clip of ammunition into his firearm.

Then Schneeman yelled, “He’s got a gun” a few more times as he moved to the back of a gold-colored car with Haus to his right.

Sixteen seconds after the first shots were fired, Schneeman yelled, “Show us your hands.” At about 70 seconds after gunfire began, Schneeman told Haus he fired his weapon, then added, “He shot at me.”

ALLEGATIONS

The suit states that when the chase began, Haus advised dispatch that Sheets “tried to hit me or hit me” in the parking lot of the Wild Cat drive-thru in Struthers, but there is “irrefutable video evidence that Sheets’ vehicle did not hit or even attempt to strike Haus’ cruiser.”

After Haus deployed a “pit” maneuver with his cruiser that blocked Sheets’ car in between Haus’ vehicle and Schneeman’s vehicle, both Haus and Schneeman deployed stun guns against Sheets.

A portion of Schneeman’s body camera shows Schneeman holding a stun gun in his left hand and his service weapon in his right hand while pointing both of them at Sheets, according to an earlier Vindicator article.

The suit quotes Schneeman as saying that the next thing that happened was Schneeman saying he “could see (Sheets’) right hand come up and he turns toward me.”

The Vindicator has reported that Schneeman told an investigator from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal investigation that after Schneeman deployed his stun gun, Sheets “pointed a firearm at me, a gun. He pointed it directly at me.”

The suit points out that Haus reported that he did not see Sheets with a firearm and did not fire his service weapon at Sheets.

The lawsuit alleges that “despite Schneeman’s assertion that Sheets pointed a firearm at him, the indisputable dash cam video and videographer analysis of the dash cam video shows that Sheets did not and could not point a firearm at Schneeman.”

The Vindicator has published portions of Schneeman’s body camera video, including the portions that show Schneeman approaching Sheets’ vehicle and Schneeman firing his weapon at Sheets.

ANOTHER SHOOTING

The suit mentions another officer-involved shooting involving Schneeman, this one happening Sept. 21, 2021, that caused a juvenile to suffer “serious physical injuries” following a vehicle chase.

The Vindicator reported that BCI also investigated that matter and turned over its investigation to the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office on Dec. 14, 2021. Roddy earlier this year said the matter has not yet been presented to a county grand jury.

The incident happened near Lake Park Cemetery and Interstate 680 in Youngstown and began as a call regarding a car theft, according to Vindicator files.

Roddy said at the time a Struthers officer approached a vehicle containing three people and the officer was dragged a short distance, but not seriously injured. Shots were fired. Two of the people in the car were later detained and interviewed. The third person got away.

The suit states that it is believed the matter “has yet to be presented to” a county grand jury. Schneeman was promoted to detective “sometime after” Sheets’ death, the suit states.