Bethany Bruner

Reporter

NEWARK – Dash camera video released Thursday by Newark police provided harrowing insight into a midday shootout as people and cars passed along a busy 11th Street.

The video shows Officer Jarrod Conley following a white vehicle when it turned onto 11th Street and then pulled over.

Moments after the vehicle pulls curbside, a person identified by police as 27-year-old Randall Hutchison is seen exiting the vehicle with a handgun visible and beginning to run north. Conley and plain-clothes officers in the area pursued the man as Conley yelled "gun" to alert other officers.

One loud bang is heard and Conley appears to be hit in the left arm as he ducks behind a nearby building for cover. Conley then fires three shots toward the north, in the direction the man is seen running.

Minutes later, Hutchison was receiving medical treatment on West Church Street after being struck by an unmarked police vehicle driven by Detective Doug Bline.

Hutchison and Conley were both flown to Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University by medical helicopter. Conley was expected to be released Thursday from the hospital. Hutchison remains in critical condition.

Police said they knew Hutchison well. He had been arrested multiple times and served time in federal prison for counterfeiting $20 bills.

In October, police responded to his home on Union Street after a report of a domestic dispute. That interaction prompted one of the officers to send an email to the entire Newark Division of Police.

The email details a "lengthy conversation" with Hutchison, ranging from talk of ISIS and a ground war in the Middle East, to Ebola in West Africa and eventually to Hutchison's statement about how he would die.

"He knew how he was going to die and that was by shooting it out with the Police," the email said.

The officer also warned his co-workers about Hutchison's propensity for carrying firearms, including fake guns that looked real.

"I believe him to be telling the truth because I have arrested him on at least three separate occasions where he had some type of firearm," the officer wrote.

Hutchison also was thought to have mental issues and to possibly suffer from depression, but in a 2011 Licking County Common Pleas Court case, Hutchison was found competent to stand trial during a mental health evaluation and was later sentenced to 16 months in prison for failing to appear and forgery.

In 2010, Hutchison was sentenced to two years in prison for unlawful possession of a dangerous ordnance, tampering with evidence, weapons under disability and making false alarms.

He was recently released from federal prison after serving a sentence for counterfeiting $20 bills.

Counterfeiting is what began the string of events that ended with Hutchison being struck by a vehicle on Church Street.

Police were preparing to execute what chief Steven Sarver called a high-risk search warrant at 58½ Union St., where Hutchison was living, to seek evidence of a counterfeiting operation when Hutchison left the home in a white vehicle.

Minutes later, plain-clothed and uniformed officers reported spotting Hutchison near 317 W. Church St.

Sarver said Detective Bline, who was in an unmarked police vehicle, brought his vehicle relatively close to Hutchison in an effort to exit the vehicle and apprehend him.

However, Hutchison allegedly pulled or raised his gun, leaving Bline with a split-second decision to make.

"In about a half second, he decided to stop the guy," Sarver said.

Sarver said Newark police are handling the investigation of Wednesday's incident.

Licking County Prosecutor Ken Oswalt said he does not yet know whether charges will be presented to a grand jury.

"It's too early to tell," Oswalt said. "Based upon what I know now, I don't have any concerns about what happened in terms of anything officers did inappropriately."

Oswalt said he is being kept in the loop by police and receiving information as they have been able to provide it.

No charges have been filed against Hutchison yet. Sarver said police are watching Hutchison's medical condition.

Sarver said evidence of counterfeiting was found at the home on Union Street Wednesday and the warrant is now sealed.

The personnel files of Conley and Bline, obtained by The Advocate Thursday, show numerous letters of commendation and awards for both officers. Neither showed any significant disciplinary histories.