Law enforcement, family and friends packed into a Grove City church to honor a police officer who died while trying to help others.
Services for Kirkersville Police Chief Steven Eric DiSario were held Saturday at Grove City Church of the Nazarene.
The chief was shot and killed May 12 when he responded to a report of a man with a gun behind the Pine Kirk Care Center in Kirkersville, about 25 miles east of Columbus. Thomas Hartless shot DiSario, 38, then went into the nursing home and killed his ex-girlfriend, Marlina Medrano and nurse aide Cindy Krantz.
Medrano and Krantz were laid to rest earlier this week. Hartless killed himself after the shootings.
DiSario had only worked with the Kirkersville Police Department for a month.
On Friday, Licking County Municipal Judge Michael Higgins said he will be haunted forever by his decision to grant early release to Hartless.
Investigators say Hartless, 43, had been released early from jail one month before the shootings. He had served 20 days of a 90-day sentence.
“I will go to my grave regretting the fact that I did not know Thomas Hartless’ name,” the judge said in explaining his unfamiliarity with the domestic violence case. “Not an excuse, but I probably come in contact with 400 defendants. When I signed that entry releasing him, I had no idea who he was.”
Medrano had previously sought protective orders against Hartless in connection with domestic violence.
Higgins said that up until Hartless’ case, the county’s early-release screening process had worked well; he said he relies on probation officers who are supposed to assess probation candidates for risk.
“You think everything is OK,” Higgins said. “Maybe you become complacent, then something horrible, horrible, like this happens and then it’s easy to see some deficiencies.”
A review of how Hartless gained early release found a lack of checks and balances in the court’s early release process. Hartless wasn’t supposed to have weapons, but a probation officer never checked his home, where authorities later found over 60 guns.
The review also found that the recommendation of just one probation officer led to the early release and that the probation officer had not reviewed the court file or read all three incident reports about the assaults against his ex-girlfriend.
Kevin Saad, director of the court’s Adult Probation Department, said Friday that three probation officers face disciplinary action and that he could face discipline also.
Changes will be made to improve the process, and another judge will do a review to decide on the discipline for the probation officers, Saad said.
Higgins, 68, said he has no plans to step down as judge.