COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Columbus City Council approved a $1.8 million settlement with a former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agent stemming from an encounter between him and Columbus Police officers more than four years ago.
On July 7, 2020, ATF agent James Burk was on assignment trying to retrieve an illegally owned gun, according to court documents. City documents explained the suspect’s wife was skeptical that Burk was an agent and called the police. Body camera video shows Columbus officers had their weapons drawn within seconds of getting to the scene.
“There were certainly opportunities where I think this could have been avoided,” Abby Chin, an attorney for Cooper Elliot which represented Burk, said. “This could have been avoided had people slowed down a bit, had questions been asked before a situation gets escalated to the point that guns are being pointed.”
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The body camera video showed officers telling Burk to get on the ground several times. He initially refused and said he was a federal agent. Eventually, he got down on the ground. As officers put handcuffs on him, they told him to stop resisting and a taser was used…