Christopher Ereg * * * VIDEOTAPED INTERVIEW CHRISTOPHER EREG * * * APPEARANCES: Scott Gardner John Saraya Patrick D'Angelo Jeffrey Follmer Steve Kinas ARMSTRONG & OKEY, INC. 222 East Town Street, Second Floor Columbus, Ohio 43215-4620 (614) 224-9481 Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 2 1 MR. GARDNER: My name is Scott Gardner. 2 I'm a detective/sergeant out of East Cleveland 3 assigned to the Major Crimes Unit. 4 I've got sort of the same speech. 5 You're going to get the real abridged version. 6 All right? 7 8 We're here to investigate the facts. Just investigate what happened. 9 All right. We are conducting the criminal 10 investigation aspect of this. 11 internal investigation. 12 obviously, you're going to be afforded your 13 rights. 14 This is not an Because of that, All right? There's going to be some questions in 15 here that -- there's questions that you may not 16 appreciate, but they're designed to elicit 17 certain responses from you. 18 You can feel free to get offended by 19 them. 20 feelings about it. 21 All right? That's fine. MR. SARAYA: I'm not going to get hurt All right? I'm John Saraya, BCI. 22 We've been put on the lead on this. 23 has been that this it is the criminal side. 24 Our policy As Scott said, you get all the rights Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 3 1 and privileges, because you're going to be given 2 the Miranda; not because we think you did 3 anything wrong, but because you get all the 4 rights and privileges, same as everybody else. 5 We've been mixed up -- I've been mixed 6 up about 12 years that I've been working and 7 doing officer-involved shootings. 8 first rodeo. 9 10 11 This isn't my If at any time you have any questions, ask us. We'll clarify it for you. If there's something you want to pause 12 and consult with your people, not a problem. 13 can step out in the hallway, figure out what you 14 want to do. 15 You Okay? Like Scott said, some of the questions, 16 don't take them personally. We're looking for 17 you to continue on and give us some details we're 18 trying to pull out. Okay? 19 Any problems with any of that? 20 THE WITNESS: 21 MR. SARAYA: 22 MR. GARDNER: No. Okay. All right. 23 right to remain silent. 24 will be used against you in court. You have the Anything you say can and You have the Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 4 1 right to consult with an attorney and have an 2 attorney present during questioning. 3 cannot afford an attorney, one can be provided to 4 you before questioning at no cost. If you 5 Do you understand these rights? 6 THE WITNESS: Yes, I do. 7 MR. GARDNER: Having those rights in 8 mind, do you wish to speak to us now? 9 THE WITNESS: 10 11 Yes. EXAMINATION BY MR. GARDNER: 12 Q. Let's start off, what's -- what's your 14 A. Christopher Ereg, Badge 767. 15 Q. Spell your last name. 16 A. E-r-e-g. 17 Q. What was your badge number again? 18 A. 767. 19 Q. 767. 13 20 name? What's -- do you mind if I call you Chris? 21 A. Chris. 22 Q. Chris? 23 24 Chris, what's -- what's your cell-phone number? A. . Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 5 1 Q. Your date of birth? 2 A. . 3 Q. Home address? 4 A. 5 6 7 . Q. That, obviously, would be redacted from the public. 8 A. 9 Q. 10 . All right. Let's -- let's start off with, how you're holding up? 11 A. Fine. 12 Q. What's your current assignment or what 13 was your assignment with CPD? 14 A. Third District Vice. 15 Q. How long have you been on the CPD? 16 A. Thirteen and a half years. 17 Q. You ever worked in any other agencies 18 before? 19 A. No. 20 Q. And what's -- what's your shift? 21 A. I usually work six p.m. to two in the 22 23 24 morning. Q. Is that what you were working on Thursday? Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 6 1 A. Yeah. 2 Q. Your supervisor? 3 A. Sergeant Matt Putnam is my immediate 4 supervisor, and then Lieutenant Jerome Barrow is 5 our lieutenant. 6 7 Q. What were your days off or what were they in November? 8 A. 9 Sunday. 10 Q. 11 In November they were Saturday, Work any extra -- extra details, overtime details? 12 A. Sometimes I work part-time at the bars 13 on West 6th. 14 MR. SARAYA: 15 THE WITNESS: 16 17 18 Anything this past week? No. BY MR. GARDNER: Q. Talking about Thursday, how were you feeling that day? Rested, had the flu, sneezy? 19 A. No. 20 Q. Take any medications, whether it be 21 22 I was fine. prescribed or over-the-counter? A. 23 24 Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 7 1 MR. SARAYA: 2 THE WITNESS: 3 MR. SARAYA: 4 BY MR. GARDNER: 5 Q. 6 A. 7 Q. Do you wear glasses or contacts? 8 A. I wear contact lenses. 9 Q. I'm just going to ask, because I don't 10 know how good the mic is, can you -- 11 A. 12 Yeah, contacts, I wear contacts lenses. 13 MR. GARDNER: 14 MR. SARAYA: 15 MR. GARDNER: 16 17 18 19 How good is the mic here? Real good. All right. BY MR. GARDNER: Q. wearing. A. What -- let's talk about what you were What were you wearing that night? I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a 20 zipped-up hooded sweatshirt, and my vest which I 21 had over my clothes. 22 Q. Was it a -- like an exterior vest -- 23 A. No. 24 It's actually just a regular vest, but I usually put it on over. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 8 1 2 MR. SARAYA: pockets? 3 4 THE WITNESS: No. BY MR. GARDNER: 5 6 Not a tac vest with all the Q. Did you have your badge on or anything saying "Police" or anything like that? 7 A. 8 100 percent. 9 day. 10 11 Q. I think I had my badge on, but I'm not I was working undercover that What kind of tools of the trade do you carry? 12 A. That day, because I was working 13 undercover, I just had my gun, handcuffs, and an 14 extra magazine. 15 Q. One extra? 16 A. I think I had two extra magazines. 17 Q. Carry a backup weapon? 18 A. No, not that day I didn't. 19 but I don't carry it regularly. 20 21 I had one, Q. The two extra magazines that you had, what -- how were they filled? 22 A. They were full to capacity. 23 Q. Do you know what the total rounds were 24 -Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 9 1 2 A. It's a Glock 17, so I think there's 17 rounds in each magazine. 3 Q. 17, plus 17, plus 18? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Do you carry any recording devices, 6 wherever it be audio or video? 7 A. No. 8 Q. Let's talk about the car you were in. 9 10 What kind of car were you in? A. It was a Crown Vic. It was unmarked. 11 It did have take-down lights, red and blue lights 12 and so forth. 13 visor. 14 back lights, I believe. Just not on top. It was in the And flashing lights in the headlights and 15 Q. Have a siren? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. It was functional? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. Any spotlights, anything like that? 20 A. No. 21 Q. Did it have a dash cam inside or a 22 personal dash cam or anything like that? 23 A. (Negative shaking of head.) 24 Q. What radio channel were you operating Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 10 1 on? 2 A. We usually operate on Tac 3 with one -- 3 we can -- we sometimes are an Tac 3, but we were 4 on Channel 3 just so we could monitor what's 5 going on radio-to-radio. 6 So that day we were on Tac 3 and we were 7 on Channel 3, and that's when we heard the chase 8 go over; and we switched over to Channel 2 at 9 some point. 10 11 Q. A. 13 Yes. MR. SARAYA: Do you know what the car number is that you were in? 15 16 So it started on Tac 3 and then switched to Channel 2? 12 14 Okay. THE WITNESS: 382. BY MR. GARDNER: 17 Q. Your call sign? 18 A. I think that night I was 3 Victor 85. 19 Q. Okay. 20 A. 3 Victor 85, yeah. 21 Q. So there was nobody else in the car with A. Yeah, there was someone in the car with 22 23 24 you? me during that day. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 11 1 2 Are you talking about during the chase or during the shift? 3 4 Q. Yes, let's start with, you were solo for the shift? 5 A. Right. 6 Q. But when this happens, who jumps in with A. Sergeant Matt Putnam. 7 8 you? 9 Well, actually I wasn't working in that 10 car during the day. 11 vehicle, because we were doing an undercover 12 operation. 13 14 When we went with the chase, we jumped into 382. 15 16 17 I was in an undercover MR. SARAYA: Q. Okay. And that's the vehicle you described, right? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. The unmarked Crown Vic, okay. 20 So Sergeant Matt Putnam? 21 A. Yeah. 22 Q. Who was driving? 23 A. I was. 24 Q. Specialized training, do you have any Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 12 1 SWAT training, instructor training? 2 A. I've got criminal gang training and 3 narcotics training. I was in the narcotics unit 4 for a couple of years. 5 Q. Prior service? 6 A. Military service, no. 7 Q. Did you qualify with your weapons this A. Yes. 8 9 year? 10 MR. SARAYA: 11 THE WITNESS: 12 MR. SARAYA: 13 THE WITNESS: 14 15 16 Which ones? My duty weapon. Handgun? Shotgun? Rifle? Handgun, shotgun. BY MR. GARDNER: Q. Did you receive use of force training when you qualified? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Part of the block. 19 Your OPOTA up-to-date? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. Have you had any prior shooting 22 incidents? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. And when was that -- or how many, first Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 13 1 off? 2 A. Just one. 3 Q. All right. 4 MR. SARAYA: April 2007 did you fire a gun? 7 8 So you started your -- I'm sorry. 5 6 April 2007. THE WITNESS: Yes. BY MR. GARDNER: 9 Q. Okay. You started your shift at six 10 p.m. You said you were conducting a buy bust 11 operation, is that what you said? 12 A. Yeah. 13 Q. Was that earlier in the shift? 14 A. Yeah, that was earlier in the shift. 15 16 17 18 19 We were in the office when this incident happened. Q. All right. You had just come back to the office to do paperwork or what? A. Yeah, we came back to the office to do 20 paperwork, enter evidence. 21 we had to do charging paperwork. 22 23 24 Q. Okay. We had an arrest, so So take me -- you're back there doing the paper on your arrest. MR. SARAYA: What happens? You're at -- what office Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 14 1 are you at? 2 THE WITNESS: 3 District Vice office. 4 5 6 7 8 9 We're at the Third I'm sorry. BY MR. GARDNER: Q. No. That's okay. paper on your arrest. A. So you're doing the Take me from that point. I think someone had heard there was a chase going on on Channel 3 and it went into 10 Channel 2, so we turned to Channel 2 to 11 monitor. 12 Q. Keep going. 13 A. At that point we weren't involved in the 14 chase or anything. 15 office monitoring it. 16 We were just sitting in the It went through the Second District. 17 This is when multiple times we heard that they 18 had fired on officers, the suspect had fired on 19 officers, and that they were pointing a gun out 20 the window at officers. 21 22 We still didn't get involved. This is still on the west side at this point. 23 My sergeant, Sergeant Putnam, is one of 24 the few guys in the department right now who has Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 15 1 a patrol rifle, so after hearing numerous times 2 that these people were firing on officers and 3 pointing guns at officers, at some point we made 4 a decision to get in the car and see if we could 5 assist in any way. 6 Deadman's Curve. 7 8 Q. I think that was around He -- he grabbed his rifle, is that what you mean? 9 A. Yeah, he grabbed his rifle and he said 10 -- he said, "Let's drive over there and see if we 11 can help them out." 12 Q. The pursuit was at Deadman's you said? 13 A. At that time I think it was at about 14 Deadman's Curve. 15 Q. All right. Go ahead. 16 A. We went up MLK to Ansel, and kind of got 17 into the tail end of it when they got off at 72nd 18 and St. Clair. 19 Q. You guys got off at that point, you 21 A. Yeah. 22 Q. All right. 20 23 24 mean? MR. SARAYA: How many cruisers are in the chase at that point? Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 16 1 2 THE WITNESS: I couldn't say. At least ten. 3 4 Multiple. MR. SARAYA: Okay. BY MR. GARDNER: 5 Q. What happened next? 6 A. The chase went through the neighborhood 7 at the 78th and Donald area. 8 the neighborhood just south of Superior, Star, 9 Decker, and Addison, and ended up going eastbound 10 It went south into on Wade Park. 11 Q. Okay. 12 A. I think it was on Wade Park right around 13 Case Western where someone said, "It looks like 14 they're reloading. 15 is reloading." It looks like the passenger 16 Q. Okay. 17 A. It went south. We went south on, I 18 think, 111th and ended up on Euclid Avenue and 19 continued eastbound. 20 21 22 23 24 Q. How far back are you? Can you see the suspect vehicle? A. I didn't see the suspect vehicle at all until the end. Q. Okay. That's how far back we were. So you get onto Euclid? Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 17 1 A. Yes. We were going eastbound on Euclid. 2 I guess the car turned south on a side street. 3 don't know the name of the street by where the 4 middle school is. 5 I And this was a bunch of police cars 6 going up there, so I couldn't make that turn, 7 that right turn, so I continued eastbound and 8 then turned southbound onto Lee. 9 Q. Okay. 10 A. And, as it turned out, the suspect 11 vehicle turned east into that school parking lot 12 and we turned west, so, as it turned out, we were 13 -- he was coming right towards us. 14 15 Q. Lee. MR. SARAYA: You're -- you're on Okay. Let's go with this one. 18 A. 19 20 Hang on. Let's get that. 16 17 Okay. I think it was Lee. MR. SARAYA: here. Let's get your orientation This is the top. Here's Lee Road. 21 A. Okay, yeah. It was -- 22 Q. This is the parking lot here. 23 A. So -- 24 Q. This is Wymore. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 18 1 A. Where's the parking lot? 2 Q. Right here. 3 MR. SARAYA: 4 Q. 5 Up in here. MR. SARAYA: 6 A. Here's Lee Road. Here's Wymore. 7 Right here. Okay. I don't know which -- how the 8 suspect vehicle went from here. 9 I thought this was actually over here when he 10 We went north. turned in here. 11 Somehow he was coming towards us this 12 way, and we went over the curb and went this 13 way. 14 Q. Okay. 15 A. I think I said the directions wrong. 16 Q. That's fine. 17 18 19 20 21 22 So you guys -- you were on Lee, you jumped the curb? A. Yeah. There's a road actually up here you can't see in this picture. Q. Yeah. Let's see if I have it on here. MR. SARAYA: On the other one it's not 23 going to show you because the trees are 24 overgrown. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 19 1 Q. Well, you can sort of see it. 2 A. Anyways, what I saw, because I was 3 driving, what I saw -- there was a couple zone 4 cars that were down over here. 5 Q. This is the road that's going up. 6 A. Okay, yeah. So there was police cars 7 that went this way. Since I saw them coming 8 towards us, I -- I went over here. 9 where I parked. 10 Q. So you're on the road? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Okay. Right here is Do me a favor. Can you draw a 13 little -- a little car where you -- just 14 approximately where you are? 15 A. (Complies with request.) 16 Q. Okay. 17 18 So then what happens? Or where -- where is the suspect vehicle at this point, just approximately? 19 A. 20 marked. 21 Q. 22 23 24 The suspect vehicle is where you have it So it had already -- it had already crashed into this? A. No, no, no. When we were coming over here, it was Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 20 1 2 3 prior to the crash, he was coming this way. Q. Okay. But you're over here where I was -- 4 A. I was over here. 5 Q. So do you see the suspect vehicle coming 6 7 up and hitting this unit? A. I -- I heard the crash -- I heard a 8 crash. I did not actually witness the crash, but 9 I knew that car was crashing into another car. 10 MR. GARDNER: 11 MR. SARAYA: Okay. So you start off here on 12 Lee Road, off the bottom of the picture, you baha 13 up here. 14 swerve over or you just came straight up here? 15 You start coming up here and then THE WITNESS: Well, I came this way. 16 saw the headlights coming this way with the 17 police lights behind it, so I felt that the 18 vehicle was coming right towards us. 19 believing they were armed, I went this way. 20 I BY MR. GARDNER: 21 22 Q. And Were you hearing any radio traffic when you're entering the parking lot? 23 A. Yeah. 24 Q. What kind of radio traffic? Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 21 1 A. When I'm entering -- well, there's radio 2 traffic saying what direction. 3 said, "Block them in." 4 I think someone When we reached here, I -- this is about 5 where I heard the crash. 6 We were about right here. 7 Q. Okay. 8 A. So I did hear and I started hearing 9 rounds being fired. 10 Q. Keep going. 11 A. I exited my vehicle, because I didn't 12 want to be hit by cross fire. 13 I -- someone -- over the radio I heard 14 someone say, "They're shooting at us. 15 shooting at officers." 16 17 They're I heard someone else yell that too, "They're shooting." 18 Q. Okay. 19 A. So I went down the hill. I saw a couple 20 of police officers on the ground. I thought that 21 they had been hit. 22 As I approached the vehicle, at this 23 time there's rounds being fired. 24 I thought that we were taking fire. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 22 1 I saw glass from the suspect vehicle 2 exploding. I thought that they were shooting 3 through the window, and I saw bullet holes in 4 this -- in the police car here. 5 officers were taking fire. I thought these 6 Q. The one on the right? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. Just for your video sake here, when 9 Like in the windshield. you're pointing, it's CPD 217 that you're 10 pointing to? 11 A. 12 13 Yeah, that was the Charger. Because there was -- this one -- I think CPD 238 is a Crown Vic. 14 Q. Go ahead. 15 A. So that's when I -- I saw the passenger 16 in the vehicle. 17 forward. 18 He appeared to be moving I thought he was loading his gun. I was actually -- I couldn't believe 19 we're in the middle of a shootout right now, and 20 that's when I took aim at the passenger and 21 discharged my firearm. 22 Q. Do you know how many times you shot? 23 A. I know now. 24 four times. I thought I fired about As it turns out, it was six. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 23 1 Q. How many times did you actually fire? 2 A. I fired six times. 3 Q. Oh, okay. 4 A. I thought it was four times, but I found 5 out subsequently it was actually six. 6 7 8 Q. Do you know who told you that you fired A. Lieutenant Stacho. six? 9 MR. KINAS: Sergeant. 10 A. He's a sergeant. 11 Q. So at some point later Sergeant Stacho 12 13 took your weapon -A. Took my weapon and my extra magazines, 14 which I had two extra magazines plus the one that 15 was in the gun, and he inventoried how many 16 rounds were gone. 17 MR. GARDNER: 18 MR. SARAYA: 19 You're the driver. 20 Okay. So you start up here. Went around the front, back of the car? 21 THE WITNESS: 22 MR. SARAYA: 23 24 Front. Went around the front of the car? THE WITNESS: I was trying to take cover Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 24 1 behind the Crown Vic. 2 MR. SARAYA: Okay. So you were trying 3 to keep that crown Vic between you and the 4 suspects? 5 THE WITNESS: 6 MR. SARAYA: Exactly. Okay. So you run around 7 here and you get over to the Crown Vic. 8 are you at? 9 deck? 10 11 You're on the hood, you're over the Where are you shooting? THE WITNESS: 13 MR. SARAYA: THE WITNESS: 16 MR. SARAYA: 17 THE WITNESS: Okay. So you're actually Yeah. Are you at the bumper? I was in front a bit. BY MR. GARDNER: 19 20 It was about right here. almost in front of the Crown Vic? 15 18 Yeah, just draw it on there. 12 14 Where Q. If you remember, there's like a breakwall here. 21 A. Right. 22 Q. Are you on the breakwall, below the 23 breakwall, beside the breakwall? 24 Where are you at? Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 25 1 2 A. I think I jumped down on -- from the breakwall. 3 Q. So you're on the sidewalk there? 4 A. Yeah. 5 Q. So you're on the driver's side of CPD 7 A. That's correct. 8 Q. Okay. 9 A. At some time about that time the firing 6 238? Keep going. 10 stopped, and I actually walked up to see if -- 11 see if the suspects were dead. 12 Q. Then what happens? 13 A. I think someone called for EMS and 14 someone calls for a boss. 15 I asked my -- Erin O'Donnell, she wasn't 16 my partner, she was standing near me, if she was 17 okay. 18 in my unit, and he was involved. 19 he was okay. Then I talked to Mike Demchak, who is also 20 I asked him if They said yeah. Sergeant Putnam asked us if we fired our 21 weapons. We told him we did, so he said, "All 22 right, stick around." 23 Q. Did Sergeant Putnam fire his weapon? 24 A. No. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 26 1 Q. Did you see -- when you were down in his 2 position, did you see anybody on the suspect's 3 vehicle firing? 4 A. No. 5 Q. Did you -- just the orientation around 6 you, did you see any of the -- any other officers 7 around you? 8 9 A. Yeah. I mean, there was officers around here kind of coming in and out of my site 10 picture. 11 crossfire. 12 crossfire," a couple times. 13 Q. I was -- I was more concerned about I think I yelled out, "Crossfire, You pretty much -- just so I'm 14 understanding, when you came out -- I'm going to 15 draw on this for you. 16 A. Sure. 17 Q. You came out your driver's side, 18 correct? 19 A. Right. 20 Q. Then you came down this way? 21 A. That's correct. 22 Q. You stayed in that position primarily 23 24 the entire time? A. Yes, throughout the entire shootout. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 27 1 Q. Is that pretty accurate what I drew? 2 A. It's very accurate. 3 Q. Okay. 4 Sort of go back and then come back forward -- 5 A. All right. 6 Q. -- with my questions here. 7 I know you were driving, so did you have 8 any radio traffic? 9 radio traffic? 10 11 A. Hear Sergeant Putnam have any I didn't have any radio traffic at all. I'm 99 percent sure he didn't get on the radio. 12 Q. Lights and siren the whole time? 13 A. Yes, we had lights and siren. 14 Q. The -- I sort of already asked you this. 15 The closest you came to the vehicle would have 16 been in this parking lot? 17 A. Yeah. I mean, I didn't even see the 18 vehicle throughout the whole part of the pursuit 19 that we were involved in until the end. 20 21 22 Q. Tell me about, like, the speeds in the pursuit. A. I don't remember exactly. I think the 23 -- it wasn't that fast. I think the fastest we 24 ever went, we were on Euclid, maybe 50 Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 28 1 miles-an-hour, between 50 and 60, and that was 2 only to catch up. 3 of police cars, it was going rather slow. 4 Q. Because when we hit the group Did you -- when did you become aware of 5 the -- or did you become aware at some point of 6 the sex and race? 7 A. I became aware of the race when I walked 8 up to the vehicle, and I didn't -- I was aware of 9 the sex the next day when it was on the news. I 10 mean, I thought they were both males at the time; 11 and then the next day I actually learned 12 otherwise. 13 14 MR. SARAYA: broadcast of the "shots fired" description? 15 16 17 18 19 Did you hear the original THE WITNESS: No. BY MR. GARDNER: Q. You were still on Channel 3 at that point? A. Right, that's correct. I think I was 20 actually on Tac 3, but someone in the office had 21 it on Channel 3. 22 23 24 Q. Do you know the names of the suspects at this point? A. Yes, I think I do. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 29 1 Q. Hearing those names, did you recognize 2 the names from anybody that you've had dealings 3 with? 4 A. I think I arrested Malissa Williams. 5 I'm not 100 percent sure. 6 with her, because I was in the downtown unit for 7 a period. 8 9 10 Q. I know I had dealings Just showing the photos here. refresh your memory at all? Does that Do you know any of the -- either of the two? 11 A. I know her. And I -- he looks very 12 familiar, but I don't know specifically if I know 13 him. 14 15 16 Q. Okay. You know her because you were assigned to the downtown? A. At one point I was assigned to the 17 downtown a couple few years ago. 18 I know I've had dealings with her. 19 Q. And Russell looks familiar? 20 A. He looks very familiar. 21 Q. Okay. 22 23 24 What -- what kind of lighting conditions were in the parking lot? MR. SARAYA: It's a subjective question. Your opinion. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 30 1 A. It was dark. This was nighttime, but 2 there was -- there was light and I could clearly 3 see the vehicle and all police vehicles. 4 Q. Could you see inside the vehicle? 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. When you were on scene, I know you said 7 that you issued some commands as far as 8 crossfire. 9 verbal commands? 10 A. Did you hear anybody else issuing I heard someone else say "crossfire" 11 Someone might have said "Cease fire" toward the 12 end, but I don't remember specifically who. 13 14 Q. You said you saw some movements on the passenger side? 15 A. Yeah. 16 Q. Can you sort of describe a little bit A. Yeah. 17 18 more? He was sitting up at first. Then 19 I saw him kind of bend down, and that's why I 20 felt he was maybe reloading his weapon; that and 21 he sat back up. 22 Q. Do you believe that your rounds hit? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. This is one of those questions I was Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 31 1 telling you about. All right? 2 A. All right. 3 Q. Do you think there was any other type of 4 options that could have been used to avoid 5 this? 6 A. Absolutely not. 7 Q. You said you heard somebody called for 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Was that radio? 11 A. I think I heard it over the radio. 12 Q. Do you know who it was? 13 A. No. 14 Q. After everything -- the shooting had 8 15 16 EMS? Did you hear it aloud? subsided, what did you do? A. 17 Did you reload? No, I didn't reload. MR. SARAYA: 18 the car. 19 You said you walked up to move anything? 20 21 22 Did you reach inside and check anybody, THE WITNESS: anyone. No, I didn't move or touch I did take a couple pictures. MR. SARAYA: 23 We're going to come back to that, then. 24 Okay. BY MR. GARDNER: Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 32 1 Q. Did you check yourself for injury? 2 A. No. 3 Q. Have you checked your vest since? 4 A. Yeah. 5 Q. Anything? 6 A. No. 7 Q. Do you recall any type of statements 8 afterwards from other people? 9 10 11 I -- I didn't think I was hit. What was the atmosphere afterwards? What were the guys saying? A. It was -- everyone was kind of in shock. 12 Mostly people were saying, "Are you okay," 13 checking everyone else's well-being. 14 I kind of stayed with my unit, just 15 those three people were there, until I got called 16 in to go into the building. 17 18 We were just amazed that it went on, just amazed that they just wouldn't stop. 19 You know what I mean? 20 Kept saying, "Why wouldn't they just 21 22 stop?" Q. You don't have to get defensive to this 23 question. All right? It's okay if you did. 24 just need to know if you did. We All right? Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 33 1 Have you spoken to anyone besides your 2 union representatives and the attorney in 3 reference to this matter? 4 A. Uh-huh. 5 Q. Who was that? 6 A. My wife, numerous people on the police 7 department, my father, two of my brothers. 8 9 10 Q. with people on the police department in reference? 11 12 What kind of conversations did you have A. Just most people were checking my well-being, "Are you okay?" 13 They see my name -- they saw my name on 14 the news and they just wanted to see if I was 15 okay. 16 MR. SARAYA: 17 THE WITNESS: 18 MR. SARAYA: 19 20 21 About how many officers? Probably 20, 25. Okay. BY MR. GARDNER: Q. Do you believe your actions to be consistent with your training? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. Do you believe others' actions to be 24 consistent with their training? Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 34 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. Did you use your cell-phone while you 3 4 5 6 were on scene? A. used my cell-phone to take a couple pictures. Q. 7 8 9 I called my wife right after and then I Let's talk about the photographs. What -- what was your purpose in taking the photographs? A. The first photograph I took to kind of 10 remind me of where I was standing in regards to 11 where I was by the suspect vehicle. 12 And then when I walked up to the car, I 13 recognized -- I thought I recognized the driver, 14 so I took a picture of him. 15 my partner to see if it was someone that we knew, 16 my ex-partner. 17 Q. And who is that? 18 A. And I sent them to Chuck Schultz. 19 20 MR. SARAYA: THE WITNESS: 22 MR. SARAYA: 24 So you just took two pictures, or did you take more? 21 23 Okay. No, I just took two. Okay. That's the only person you sent them to? THE WITNESS: No. I sent them to my Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 35 1 father in Michigan. 2 MR. GARDNER: The pictures you said? 3 THE WITNESS: Yeah. 4 MR. GARDNER: Anyone else? 5 THE WITNESS: Not that I can remember, 6 no. 7 8 MR. D'ANGELO: O'Donnell? 9 10 How did they get to Can you cover that. She talked about pictures. You can cover that. 11 THE WITNESS: When we were sitting in 12 the -- waiting in the school, she asked me if I 13 took a picture and I said, "Yeah." 14 She said, "Can I see it?" 15 I showed her and she said -- I think she 16 took a picture of my phone with her phone. 17 18 19 20 MR. D'ANGELO: Okay. BY MR. GARDNER: Q. What kind of phone do you have, curiously? 21 A. An iPhone. 22 Q. May I see the pictures? 23 24 MR. SARAYA: in a minute. We're going to get to that You said she took a picture off of Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 36 1 your screen? 2 THE WITNESS: 3 MR. SARAYA: That clarifies that issue. 4 MR. SARAYA: I want to go back over a 5 Yeah. couple of things here. 6 THE WITNESS: 7 MR. SARAYA: 8 THE WITNESS: 9 MR. SARAYA: 10 You roll up there. Right. Shootings already starting as you're rolling up? 11 Sure. THE WITNESS: 12 No, no, no. As we're rolling up, he's coming towards us. 13 MR. SARAYA: 14 Okay. THE WITNESS: These police cars were 15 kind of going this way. 16 heard -- I heard a crash like a car was crashing 17 into another car, and that's when the shooting 18 started. 19 MR. SARAYA: 20 THE WITNESS: 21 MR. SARAYA: 22 I Okay. About right when I parked. Okay. You get out, you move up here. 23 24 Reached about here. And this is a question that I need to ask you. Why did you start shooting? Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 37 1 2 THE WITNESS: Because -- well, it was a combination of things. 3 As I'm running up, I'm hearing shots 4 being fired. 5 shooting at us." 6 7 Over the radio I heard, "They're shooting at officers." 8 9 10 Someone yells out, "They're As I'm running up, I'm seeing police officers on the ground. I thought that they were hit. 11 I'm seeing the windshield of the suspect 12 vehicle exploding. 13 they were shooting through the window. 14 In my mind I thought that And as I reached the front of the car, I 15 see bullet holes in the Dodge Charger CPD 217. 16 thought the officers in that car were taking 17 fire. 18 MR. SARAYA: Okay. I You're firing 19 through the side window, then, the passenger 20 window? 21 22 THE WITNESS: the passenger. 23 24 Yes, I was firing through MR. SARAYA: This is a subjective question. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 38 1 2 How long did this shootout, fire fight last, in your opinion? 3 THE WITNESS: 4 MR. SARAYA: 5 THE WITNESS: 6 MR. SARAYA: 8 THE WITNESS: 10 minute. (Affirmative nodding of How long did it feel like? It felt like it was a full This is going on, you've got gunfire going on. 11 12 About thirty seconds? head.) 7 9 Thirty seconds. MR. SARAYA: Are sirens still on on cruisers? 13 THE WITNESS: 14 MR. SARAYA: Yes. Has anyone asked you to lie 15 or otherwise try to influence your statement to 16 us? 17 THE WITNESS: 18 MR. SARAYA: 19 20 21 No. We're asking everyone that. Don't take that personal. I understand tunnel vision sets in. Did you see any other officers engaging in the car? 22 THE WITNESS: 23 MR. SARAYA: 24 THE WITNESS: Yes. Do you know who they were? No. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 39 1 MR. SARAYA: 2 THE WITNESS: Male, female? I mean, there was a line 3 -- there was not a line, but there was officers 4 kind of around the vehicle, so I couldn't tell at 5 the time. 6 MR. SARAYA: Okay. You're out of your 7 car, you're running up here, you say you see 8 officers down. 9 THE WITNESS: 10 MR. SARAYA: 11 THE WITNESS: 12 MR. SARAYA: 14 THE WITNESS: I see at least two on the Where were they at? Over behind the car over here, behind the Crown Vic CPD 238. 16 MR. SARAYA: 17 THE WITNESS: 18 MR. SARAYA: 19 How many do you see down? ground. 13 15 Yes. Okay. The Crown Vic here? Yes. Okay. And you thought they were shot? 20 THE WITNESS: 21 MR. SARAYA: Yes. Things are calming down. 22 Guys are putting their guns away. Anybody 23 cussing out the suspects, making any comments 24 about it? Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 40 1 2 THE WITNESS: chatter. I didn't hear anything like that. 3 MR. SARAYA: 4 THE WITNESS: 5 MR. SARAYA: 6 MR. GARDNER: 7 I mean, there's general I -- No racial comments? No, no, no. Okay. Do you feel that this was racially motivated? 8 THE WITNESS: 9 MR. SARAYA: Absolutely not. Kind of far back in the 10 pursuit, do you see any cruisers from any other 11 agencies in there? 12 13 THE WITNESS: No. I saw a couple unmarked cars. 14 MR. GARDNER: Do you know who was behind 16 THE WITNESS: No. 17 MR. SARAYA: 15 you? Just for the sake of 18 clarification, did you fire from your car in this 19 position up here? 20 THE WITNESS: 21 MR. SARAYA: 22 23 24 No. Okay. About how far do you think you were away from the car when you fired? THE WITNESS: Maybe 15, 20 feet. Probably closer to 15. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 41 1 2 MR. SARAYA: Okay. Anything else you can think of right now? 3 MR. D'ANGELO: 4 When -- Officer, when you gave the 5 I have a question. combination of reasons -- 6 THE WITNESS: 7 MR. D'ANGELO: Yes. -- that you had for the 8 reasons why you fired your weapon, can you give 9 us your best estimate as to the amount of time 10 that went by when you formulated those reasons to 11 justify your shooting? 12 THE WITNESS: 13 MR. D'ANGELO: Like a split second. And during that split 14 second you made those observations in the context 15 of, was there also gunfire going on at the time? 16 THE WITNESS: 17 MR. D'ANGELO: 18 THE WITNESS: 19 MR. D'ANGELO: 20 THE WITNESS: 21 MR. D'ANGELO: 22 Yes. The sirens were going on? Yes. The lights were flashing? Yes. And that was the atmosphere that you were operating in? 23 THE WITNESS: 24 MR. D'ANGELO: Yes. Did any bullets pass your Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 42 1 general direction? 2 whizzing by? 3 4 THE WITNESS: No, I couldn't. I can't tell if they had, but I didn't hear any. 5 6 Did you hear any bullets MR. KINAS: Did you have a portable with you? 7 THE WITNESS: I don't think I did at 8 that time. 9 ran out of the office. 10 11 I had one in the office, and then we MR. KINAS: You had the (inaudible) the whole time? 12 THE WITNESS: Yeah. 13 MR. D'ANGELO: You seem to have had some 14 significant assignments in terms of narcotics and 15 now the Third District Vice. 16 relatively young, athletic, and composed. 17 was your state of mind as you were on scene? 18 THE WITNESS: 19 MR. KINAS: 20 You appear to be What I was scared shitless. When did the sirens get turned off? 21 THE WITNESS: After the shooting 22 stopped. 23 know, a few seconds after. 24 They were going on the whole time. MR. KINAS: You Multiple cars? Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 43 1 THE WITNESS: Yeah. 2 MR. D'ANGELO: Did you have the 3 opportunity to observe the other officers during 4 the course of the shooting and then in the 5 instant aftermath? 6 THE WITNESS: 7 MR. D'ANGELO: 8 9 10 11 12 Yes. Did you observe them to be as you described yourself? THE WITNESS: Yeah. Everyone was concerned for each other's well-being. MR. KINAS: Great sense of relief that it was all over? 13 THE WITNESS: Yeah. 14 MR. D'ANGELO: Did you genuinely believe 15 that the occupants in the suspect vehicle were 16 firing their weapons at police officers? 17 THE WITNESS: Yes. 18 MR. D'ANGELO: Do you think you had any 19 opportunity to reflect any further on scene 20 before you took any action? 21 THE WITNESS: 22 MR. D'ANGELO: 23 THE WITNESS: 24 going on around me. On scene? Yes. No. I reacted to what was There was really no time to Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 44 1 reflect. 2 You're talking about on scene? 3 MR. D'ANGELO: 4 MR. GARDNER: 5 MR. FOLLMER: 6 MR. SARAYA: Yes, on scene. Okay. Did you have anything? No, I'm good. I'm going to ask you to put 7 your initials and badge number on that for me, 8 please. 9 THE WITNESS: (Complies with request.) 10 MR. GARDNER: Did you have any questions 11 that you would have liked us to answer -- or ask? 12 Anything that you think is relevant that 13 14 we didn't go over? THE WITNESS: I mean, I thought you were 15 going to ask me how I saw this shooting compared 16 to my first one in '07. 17 MR. GARDNER: Go ahead. 18 THE WITNESS: In that instance it was an 19 armed suspect. 20 actually had a gun in his waistband. 21 it out and pointed it toward me. 22 I was in the vehicle. He He pulled Even then before I was firing I was 23 thinking to myself, "Should I shoot? Should I 24 shoot," so I was evening questioning myself at Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 45 1 that point. 2 In this I didn't question myself at all. 3 I thought that we were taking fire and that we 4 were in a full-on fire fight. 5 So, I mean, compare the two instances, I 6 -- enduring the first incident I was even to the 7 point before I shot I was thinking to myself, 8 "Should I shoot, should I shoot," and that never 9 crossed my mind here. 10 11 MR. D'ANGELO: or what you see of what was unfolding? 12 13 THE WITNESS: Because of what was unfolding. 14 15 Because you were reckless MR. GARDNER: Just as you said, you felt like you were on a full-on fire fight? 16 THE WITNESS: 17 MR. SARAYA: Absolutely. Anything else that we 18 didn't ask you that you think we need to know 19 about? 20 THE WITNESS: 21 MR. D'ANGELO: No. The question was asked 22 about whether Sergeant Putnam fired. 23 why he -- he didn't fire? 24 THE WITNESS: Do you know Well, the reason we got in Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 46 1 the chase in the first place is because he has a 2 patrol rifle and it was still in the bag by the 3 time we arrived. 4 he was loading it and deployed it, so I don't 5 think he had an opportunity to deploy it. 6 It's not like he had it out and Also, he was behind us, so there would 7 have been crossfire. 8 MR. SARAYA: 9 I mean, that's my opinion. Okay. The phone photo, did counsel talk to you about the cell-phone -- 10 THE WITNESS: Yeah. 11 MR. SARAYA: -- beforehand? 12 MR. D'ANGELO: 13 financial stuff on there. 14 MR. SARAYA: 15 MR. GARDNER: 16 19 20 Yeah, absolutely. Is it a program, or how is THE WITNESS: It's an iPhone. It has MR. GARDNER: The applications are apps. passworded? 21 THE WITNESS: 22 MR. SARAYA: 23 MR. GARDNER: 24 Is that protected? it stored; you're like password and stuff? 17 18 He's got passwords and Yes. Okay. So, I mean, transferring something isn't going to give passwords out. Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 47 1 It's in an actual application? 2 THE WITNESS: 3 MR. KINAS: 4 THE WITNESS: 5 MR. KINAS: 6 THE WITNESS: 7 MR. KINAS: 8 pictures on its own. 9 checking iTunes. 10 11 Yeah. Which one is that? It's the iPhone 4. (Inaudible) this one? Yeah. It will dump the video Just (inaudible) without So no other information should transfer besides the photos and the video. MR. GARDNER: I was -- like, for 12 instance, I use a password program, but you would 13 have to have a password to get into the program 14 where everything is stored; self-contained. 15 MR. KINAS: (Inaudible) if I plug yours 16 into my computer, I can -- I can take your -- 17 your audio, video, and JPEGs. 18 MR. SARAYA: 19 THE WITNESS: 20 MR. SARAYA: 21 THE WITNESS: 22 MR. SARAYA: iPhone 4? Yeah. This is . . We're going to go walk over 23 to Cyber Crimes, they're going to dump, you're 24 going to get it back. It's probably going to Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 48 1 take 20 minutes, a half hour. 2 3 Do you have any questions on this before -- 4 5 Okay? MR. FOLLMER: Do you have the (inaudible)? 6 MR. D'ANGELO: 7 MR. SARAYA: Yeah, it's the last one. It's either that or you're 8 going to force us to seize it and have a search 9 warrant. 10 11 MR. FOLLMER: I guess what (inaudible) Chris -- or Pat read the last one, so -- 12 MR. D'ANGELO: I'm good with it. 13 MR. GARDNER: Do you want to talk to -- 14 THE WITNESS: We spoke. 15 MR. GARDNER: Okay. 16 MR. SARAYA: Okay. Print, signature, 17 and if you would witness that. 18 THE WITNESS: 19 20 21 22 23 24 I mean, the scope of what you're looking for? MR. SARAYA: We're looking for the pictures and -MR. D'ANGELO: Why don't you cover, why did you send that to your father? THE WITNESS: Well, I asked him about it Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 49 1 and I wanted to kind of show him what happened. 2 He was, obviously, concerned. 3 MR. SARAYA: (Inaudible), please. 4 going to turn this off. 5 I'm video. 6 7 8 I'll go shut off the (End of videotaped interview.) (End of videotaped interview.) * * * 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481 Christopher Ereg 50 1 C E R T I F I C A T E 2 - - - 3 STATE OF OHIO : SS: 4 COUNTY OF FRANKLIN : 5 I, Jennifer L. Parish, Registered 6 Professional Reporter, do hereby certify that the 7 foregoing is a true, correct, and complete 8 transcription of the above-mentioned videotaped 9 interview of CHRISTOPHER EREG to the best of my 10 ability. 11 12 DATED this 14th day of February, 2013. 13 14 15 16 _________________________ JENNIFER L. PARISH, RPR NOTARY PUBLIC-STATE OF OHIO 17 18 My Commission Expires: November 23, 2014. 19 20 21 22 23 24 Armstrong & Okey, Inc., Columbus, Ohio (614) 224-9481