Police shoot, injure resident

By Lauren Heaton

In a rare shooting incident in the village, Yellow Springs police officer Tim Knoth shot and injured local resident Corey White, 24, at an Omar Circle address on Sunday, Jan. 20, after White hit Knoth several times with a metal fire poker. Both the officer and the offender were treated for injuries and released. On Tuesday the Greene County Sheriff’s Department charged White with a first degree felony for felonious assault. He is being held at the Greene County Jail at $100,000 bond.

According to Police Chief John Grote, at 11:50 p.m. on Sunday night, Greene Memorial Hospital requested police perform a welfare check on White, who had called the hospital many times that evening upset about a friend being treated there. White, who is known to the department to have “serious mental problems,” according to Grote, was at the home of his mother, at 655 Omar Circle. Knoth was invited into the home, where White, already visibly agitated, according to Grote, pulled the poker out from under his jacket, raised it over his head and approached the officer.

According to Grote, Knoth quickly decided neither pepper spray nor a collapsible baton was a reasonable method of defense, and he attempted to de-escalate the situation by backing out of the door and telling White to put down the rod. But White continued to attack, swinging the poker and hitting Knoth several times near the head, at which point Knoth decided to shoot to protect himself, Grote said.

Knoth shot twice at White’s legs, after which White stopped momentarily before continuing the assault. Knoth shot twice more, hitting White a total of three times in the legs before he put down the poker. Knoth was taken to Miami Valley Hospital, where he was treated and released the same night. White was transported to GMH, where he was treated and released on Tuesday night.

Though by Grote’s assessment, Knoth followed the proper “force continuum” procedure, which instructs officers to meet a force with an equal or slightly additional force, the Yellow Springs police handed the investigation over to the sheriff’s office partly to maintain transparency and also because the police budget does not allow for an internal investigation staff, Grote said.

After an initial investigation, the Greene County Sheriff’s office found Knoth used appropriate force to defend himself against a deadly weapon, according to Captain Eric Spicer, head of the criminal investigation department. “Clearly he acted appropriately; if he hadn’t done so, he could have been seriously injured or killed,” Spicer said.

According to both Grote and Spicer, officers under assault are trained to aim at the largest part of the attacker’s mass to stop an assault, and therefore shooting at the legs is not something officers are instructed to do.

Knoth has been put on paid administrative leave for an extended period of time, which will allow him to recuperate and receive the medical and counseling therapy recommended for officers after this type of incident, Grote said. Knoth was also involved in an incident last summer when he shot and killed a dog that attacked him.

The Greene County prosecutor will present the charges to a grand jury on Tuesday, Jan. 29, where formal and potentially additional charges will be decided, Spicer said. If he is indicted, White will be arraigned in the Greene County Court of Common Pleas.

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com