Dash camera footage from a Columbus police cruiser shows an officer responding to a burglary call with lights and siren on had a red light when she came upon an intersection and struck a pickup truck making a left turn, killing the truck’s driver.
The video, released Dec. 9 via an Ohio Public Records Act request, also does not appear to show Columbus police officer Kaitlin Robinson slowing down as she approached the intersection of West Broad Street and Central Avenue, where a car was already driving through the intersection, and the pickup had begun a left turn.
Corey Tinnes, 30, the driver of the pickup truck, was ejected from his vehicle by the crash, which occurred at 2:48 a.m. Dec. 7, according to police records.
Tinnes was transported to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Robinson, who was struck by multiple airbags that deployed in the cruiser upon impact, was transported in stable condition to a local hospital. She was treated and later released.
A Dispatch investigation published found that city police officers were involved in 137 traffic crashes in 2024, a substantial jump from a year earlier and part of a steady increase in crashes since 2021. Police crashes cost the city and taxpayers more than $550,000 in 2024 and nearly $2 million total since 2020.
911 caller reported burglary, threatened to shoot suspect
The crash occurred while officer Robinson was responding to a 911 call to Columbus police just before 2:45 a.m. from a woman reporting her son, who was drunk, was attempting to break into her home on the 100 block of Dana Avenue. She told a dispatcher that police needed to get there soon.
“If he makes it through this door, I’m putting a bullet in him,” the woman said in the recorded call, released by police through the public records request.
At around 2:46 a.m., Robinson triggers her lights and sirens and begins speeding to respond to the call at the home on Dana Avenue. The footage shows her traveling along an empty West Broad Street, speeding through several intersections.
Moments before she enters the intersection of West Broad Street and Central Avenue, the video shows a car moving through it. Another vehicle, the pickup truck driven by Tinnes, attempts a left turn when he is struck on the driver’s side by the cruiser, video shows.
The video shows Robinson had the red light and does not seem to show that she attempted to slow down or pause before entering the intersection, which is Columbus Division of Police policy, even when lights and sirens are deployed.
After the crash, several officers arrived and tried to speak to Tinnes, who was lying on the ground bleeding and unresponsive. The officers take turns performing CPR on Tinnes while they wait for medics, bodycam video shows.
Robinson’s bodycam video shows vehicle parts scattered all over the roadway as she goes over to look at Tinnes lying on the ground, then goes to sit down on a nearby curb to await medics.
The crash will be investigated by the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Pete Shipley, spokesperson for the Columbus City Attorney’s Office, told The Dispatch previously, as part of its investigation into increasing police crashes and increasing officer responsibility, that Ohio law gives local governments immunity from liability if the police officers were responding to an emergency call unless it can be proven that the officer was driving recklessly.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus officer had red light in fatal crash with pickup, video shows
Reporting by Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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