The family of an unarmed 20-year-old Black man, who was shot and killed by a Columbus police officer in August 2022, filed a civil complaint against him yesterday (Feb. 16), according to the family’s attorney Rex Elliot.

On Aug. 30 that year, Donovan Lewis was fatally shot in the middle of the night by Officer Ricky Anderson, who was serving a warrant in the Hilltop neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. Anderson is a 30-year veteran with the Columbus Division of Police assigned to the K-9 unit. CNN reported that Anderson was placed on leave while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation conducted its investigation.

Nearly six months later, Lewis’ family has seemingly grown impatient as Anderson remains on administrative leave without any filed charges.

“It has been now 170 days since Donovan Lewis was shot — fatally shot in his apartment as he was getting out of bed unarmed, complying with police commands,” Elliot said during a news conference Thursday. “170 days, and we sit here today with Ricky Anderson still being paid [on administrative leave] … and no criminal indictment.”

The lawsuit argues that multiple police videos show Lewis “never extended or raised his arm as if holding a weapon,” adding, “It took less than one second for Anderson to unholster his weapon, acquire a sight picture, and fire his weapon.”

“Anderson recklessly chose to fire a single shot into the bedroom, mortally wounding Donovan. Anderson acted recklessly and wantonly when he made that choice over the options he ignored,” the lawsuit alleges.

The suit gave several other “nonlethal” options the 30-year vet could have allegedly implemented, including deploying his Taser or the K-9.

Lewis’ family lawyer said they waited long enough for something to be done. “We aren’t talking about a situation where we have conflicting eyewitness testimony,” he said. “We have a video that shows that this police officer fired his weapon less than a second after the door opened.

“That is about as reckless as a police officer can get,” he added. “We felt that it was very important to not wait any longer and start the process. We have filed our complaint in state court against the police officers.”

The Columbus City Attorney’s Office informed the news outlet that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations had completed its review of the shooting.

“While BCI completed their investigation into the facts of this incident, we have not yet seen the contents of that report because it is currently at the County Prosecutor’s Office awaiting grand jury presentation,” the statement said. “We have just received a copy of the lawsuit this morning but are still reviewing it and have no further comment at this time.”