A Hudson police officer who shot a man to death following a weekend crash was identified as Ryan C. Doran, according to city records released late Thursday afternoon.
Doran, who joined the department in 2004, killed Saif Nasser Mubarak Alameri, 26, who fled after causing a crash Sunday afternoon on the Ohio Turnpike, according to police reports. Alameri, a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, was studying law at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
According to the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office, Alameri died of a gunshot wound to the head. His death is listed as a homicide.
Doran is on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting.
The shooting death made front-page news Wednesday in the UAE, a federation of seven sheikdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. The United Arab Emirates has called the police killing of Alameri a “painful incident” that the country’s diplomats will investigate.
As revealed in a dashboard camera video released along with Doran’s personnel records, Doran spotted Alameri near an access road in the 3200 block of Hudson Aurora Road, about a half-mile north of the turnpike. He drew his gun and ran off-screen, but audio picked up a struggle between the two. Hudson does not equip its police officers with body cameras, so the audio is the only recording of the shooting.
“Stop! I’ll shoot!” Doran shouts in the video as he runs after Alameri.
Over the course of almost a minute, he repeatedly orders Alameri to stop and get down. At one point, he yells, “I will shoot you!”
There are about 20 seconds of silence during which only the radio sounds and a small bit of shuffling can be heard. The audio apparently captures the sound of six gunshots: three shots fired rapidly, then a pause, and three more shots with a beat between each.
A person whimpering is heard after the first three rapid-fire shots and during the last three shots. Doran’s voice is then heard reporting to dispatchers: “Shots fired!”
And moments later: “Subject down!”
Other officers arrived minutes later. They attempted life-saving measures on Alameri, but were unsuccessful.
According to police reports, the turnpike crash occurred when Alameri’s car flipped onto its roof after he was driving at a high rate of speed. Witnesses reported that Alameri exited the vehicle and ran “wildly” from the scene.
Authorities are waiting on a toxicology report to determine whether Alameri had alcohol or drugs in his system.
In an informational video released by the city earlier Thursday, Hudson Police Chief Dave Robbins said this was the first known officer-involved shooting in the city’s history.
Robbins said Doran located Alameri near a wooded area off Hudson Aurora Road, which crosses the turnpike via a bridge. The shooting occurred in a nearby ravine, he said.
According to his personnel file, Doran — a trained SWAT team member — was an ideal officer over the years. A supervisor wrote in 2015 that he was safety conscious and “an example to other officers.” His supervisors over the years have repeatedly said he is mindful of the general public’s welfare.
Hudson City Manager Jane Howington said in Thursday’s video that the city extends its condolences to Alameri’s family.
“We know this is very tragic and very unfortunate for that family,” Howington said, “especially that they’re far away.”
She added that his death has been hard for the police department, too.
“This is really a very difficult situation and a life-changing situation for everybody else involved,” she said, “be it the people who witnessed that accident on the turnpike to the officers involved, the dispatchers involved, or the emergency medical technicians involved.”
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ and on Facebook @JournoNickGlunt .