Newly released body-camera footage from the Pickaway County Sheriff's Office is revealing the harrowing events of January 20, when deputies and officers responded to a reported sexual assault in progress in the Ashville Country Estates mobile home park. In the video, law enforcement can be seen engaging in a tense standoff with 22-year-old Chase Dalton, who is seen holding a firearm while standing on the porch of a home. Despite repeated calls to disarm, the situation escalated fatally.
According to ABC6, the footage shows officers attempting to negotiate with Dalton for more than 10 minutes before he pointed his gun at officers, leading them to discharge their weapons. Dalton of Lithopolis was critically wounded in the shooting and later died at a local hospital. No law enforcement officers were injured during the encounter.
The body camera footage, also detailed by NBC4i, shows the initial moments of the response as deputies found Dalton clutching a cellphone in one hand and the gun in the other. At one point, Dalton, apparently in the midst of a mental health crisis, can be heard saying, "I just don’t know which is better, shooting myself or letting one of you gentlemen do it." Officers from the Ashville and South Bloomfield police departments were also on scene to assist with the situation.
Further details from the WBNS report mention that after Dalton raised the gun, officers fired several shots. Officers then began providing first aid to Dalton, while a juvenile victim, who had sustained a non-life-threatening injury prior to the arrival of law enforcement, was treated. It was unclear initially whether Dalton had fired his weapon during the incident, but officers on scene indicated that he did. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has since taken charge of the case to determine the exact sequence of events.
