Judge finds man incompetent to stand trial in fatal shooting of Cleveland police officer
CLEVELAND (AP) — A man charged in the fatal shooting of a Cleveland police officer has been found incompetent to stand trial.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Ashley Kilbane issued the ruling Monday. She said De’Lawnte Hardy, 25, of Cleveland, will be hospitalized indefinitely and could eventually stand trial if he improves. Hardy remains jailed on $10 million bail.
Hardy killed Jamieson Ritter on July 4 as he and other Cleveland officers attempted to arrest him on a felonious assault warrant, authorities have said. The charge stemmed from a shooting days earlier that wounded Hardy’s 63-year-old grandmother, who was shot in the head and later died from her injuries.
After a standoff with police at a Cleveland home, Hardy tried to flee on a bicycle and fired four shots at the officers, authorities have said. Ritter, a four-year veteran of the force, was struck by one shot and died a short time later at a hospital.