By Evan MacDonald Advance Ohio Media, Cleveland
WILLOUGHBY HILLS, Ohio — Graphic dashboard camera video released Monday shows a man shoot two Willoughby Hills police officers during a confrontation outside a BMW car dealership.
The Willoughby Hills Police Department released the dashboard camera video hours after Timmothy S. Schmidt pleaded guilty to shooting officers Cory Planisek and Craig Anderson during a Sept. 28 incident outside Classic BMW.
Planisek was shot in the chest and leg and Anderson was shot in the side and leg during the incident, police said. They spent several days in local hospitals before being released.
Anderson returned fire during the incident and shot Schmidt, who spent nearly seven weeks in a hospital before he was released and taken to Lake County Jail, authorities said.
The two-minute dashboard camera video released Monday begins seconds before the shooting, which lasted approximately 10 seconds.
Planisek and Anderson went to the car dealership for a report of an agitated customer. They were escorting Schmidt outside when they learned he had an active warrant from the Garfield Heights Municipal Court for a traffic case, investigators said.
Schmidt attempted to run when he realized the officers were going to arrest him, investigators said.
The video shows Planisek catching up to Schmidt as the latter ran out of the dealership’s garage. Schmidt reached for his gun as he ran outside, and he turned toward Planisek just before the first shot was fired, the video shows.
Planisek fell on top of Schmidt, and the two wrestled as more shots were fired, the video shows.
Anderson was standing over the two men before he was also shot and limped away, the video shows. Anderson then took out his own gun, walked toward the fight and fired several shots at Schmidt’s midsection, the video shows.
Several men walked by Planisek and Schmidt in the moments after the shooting. They alerted employees and came back outside to check on Planisek and Schmidt, the video shows.
Schmidt, 31, of Willoughby Hills, pleaded guilty to two counts of felonious assault on a peace officer and one count of resisting arrest Monday in Lake County Common Pleas Court.
He faces up to 45 1/2 years in prison at his April 26 sentencing hearing.
Schmidt said Monday in court that he was “heavily medicated” at the time of the shooting. He did not say what medication he was taking or what condition that medication was treating.
“At the time I was heavily medicated, and I was afraid I was going to be locked up in jail without my medication,” he said in court.
Schmidt’s criminal history includes a felony conviction for possessing LSD and misdemeanor convictions for drug possession, traffic offenses and disorderly conduct, court records show.
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