COLUMBUS – A Franklin County sheriff’s deputy remains in stable condition after a shootout with a fleeing suspect Saturday night on the Southwest Side, which left the suspect dead.
Sheriff Dallas Baldwin announced Monday that the deputy’s name was Jacob Heaberlin and the incident began at approximately 6:25 p.m. when Columbus police received a 911 call reporting a hit-skip in the area of Bohnburg Avenue and Big Run Bluff in Southwest Franklin County. Baldwin says the caller and told dispatcher that a black Ford truck hit a parked car and fled the scene westbound on Frank Road from Gantz Road and was driving recklessly.
Heaberlin spotted the vehicle on Harrisburg Pike and tried to pull it over but the driver, Darrell Bruffy, fled north on Harrisburg Pike, hitting another vehicle and then a utility pole at the intersection with Eakin Road where the truckt came to a stop.
As Heaberlin him, Bruffy, 55, of Orient, opened fire with a handgun, striking Heaberlin in the lower abdomen, Baldwin said.
Heaberlin and Franklin Township Officers Roger Myers and Joe Sheridan, who had arrived at the, scene returned fire, hitting Bruffy several times, Baldwin said.
Deputy Heaberlin was transported to a local hospital where he remains in stable condition while Bruffy was pronounced dead at the scene.
Myers and Sheridan were not injured.
No other injuries were reported from the shooting or the earlier traffic crashes, Baldwin said.
The incident remains under investigation by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Baldwin says.