Woman shot by Columbus police officer on car hood had multiple drugs in system, per autopsy
Bethany BrunerA woman who died after being shot multiple times by a Columbus police officer she had struck with a stolen vehicle had multiple drugs in her system at the time she was shot, according to an autopsy report released Friday.
Holly Graham, 32, of Lancaster, died on Feb. 16, nine days after she was shot multiple times by a Columbus police sergeant.
The unidentified sergeant shot Graham from atop the hood on Feb. 7 after he was struck by the car while attempting to pull Graham over.
The situation began after a 911 call Feb. 7 from a person who said Graham had been driving a vehicle that had been stolen in Fairfield County, police said. About 3:20 p.m., police tried to stop a 2015 Toyota Corolla near North Meadows Boulevard and East Dublin-Granville Road. Officers then spotted the sedan in a parking lot off of East Dublin-Granville Road and attempted to stop Graham, who is seen on body camera and dash camera video driving in circles around gas pumps and refusing to stop the car.
On two different occasions, Columbus police officers attempted to use stop sticks that Graham avoided. After Graham had backed into a parking lot, several officers approached her car on foot.
The camera footage shows Graham speeding forward, hitting the sergeant, who is thrown onto the hood. As the sergeant clung to the hood of the car, which continues driving through the parking lot, across a service road and into a grass ditch — where the sergeant was thrown off the hood — he fired multiple rounds into the windshield.
A wounded Graham drove out of the ditch and headed eastbound in the west lanes of traffic on Route 161 before hitting several other vehicles at the Interstate 71 interchange. She was taken to OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, where she died more than a week later.
An autopsy conducted by the Franklin County Coroner's office found Graham had been struck five times by bullets, including in each thigh and in her abdomen.
The autopsy report says Graham had sepsis and went into septic shock as the result of her injuries. Medical complications as a result of being shot multiple times is the official listing as cause of death.
The documents from the coroner's office also show no postmortem toxicology screening was done because Graham had been in the hospital for more than week receiving medical care.
However, the autopsy report notes that a drug screen done as part of Graham's medical care found amphetamines, benzodiazepines, cocaine and fentanyl in her system in unlisted quantities.
Graham had been charged with felonious assault on a police officer prior to her death. The sergeant who was injured suffered several broken bones, Columbus police said.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation into the shooting, as is Columbus Division of Police policy. That investigation is ongoing.