Cop Shoots at Racoon: Hits Woman
Updated: Thursday, March 14 2013, 08:42 AM EDT
PATASKALA — A woman said she’s lucky to be alive and unharmed after a stray bullet hit her. It came from a police officer who was trying to kill a sick raccoon.
While a married couple was working on their new house on Summit Glen Drive Sunday afternoon, their next door neighbor called police to report the sick, possibly rabid, animal. The animal was hit with a 12 gauge shotgun near a drainage ditch, but the bullet ricocheted and went through a bush, a wall, a wooden door, and more drywall before it hit the woman inside.
The woman was unharmed and did not need medical attention. She said she’s lucky and police have been checking on her since the incident. She did not want to be identified by name.
"When I heard the loud noise, I felt the pain in my side,” she said.
According to the mayor, police respond to as many as 150 animal calls in their rural area a year. It’s standard procedure for Pataskala police to take necessary measures to exterminate sick or rabid animals.
After Sunday’s unusual incident, Pataskala Police Chief Bruce Brooks said officer will change the type of ammunition they use when they respond to these calls.
------------
Reporter: Jen French
Web Producer: Kellie Hanna
Related Stories
- Police in NW Ohio: home invasion victim targeted
- Ohio newspaper editor David Miller dead at 66
- Obama exhorts good deeds by Morehouse graduates
- Police in NE Ohio report black bear sightings
- Lawsuit in Ohio cancer cluster will take years
- Ohio superintendent leaving, shooting delayed plan
- Body of missing Ohio man pulled from NC waters
- Winners announced in 2012 Ohio APME broadcast contest
- Ohio AP media organization elects members
- Brady kids return to Kings Island
- Hundreds attend memorial service for dead Texas cheerleader; case still being investigated
- Emergency officials monitor Wichita-area tornado described as 'large, violent'
- Suspect in NY bias shooting is charged with murder
- Tornado watch issued for much of Oklahoma
- Officer shot in Marathon showdown wants to work









Social