Dubai: Authorities in the US have confirmed that Saif Nasser Mubarak Al Ameri, a United Arab Emirates citizen who was shot and killed by police in Ohio, was unarmed.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation confirmed to AP on Monday that the only weapon found at the scene was the Hudson police officer’s gun.
Al Ameri was a law student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
According to officials, witnesses said Al Ameri was speeding on the Ohio Turnpike just outside Hudson, a small city of 25,000 people in rural Ohio.
His car clipped another and overturned. Ohio State Patrol troopers responded to the accident because it occurred on a state road.
Authorities say Officer Ryan Doran shot 26-year-old Al Ameri in the head during a struggle in a wooded area near the turnpike on December 4, reported AP.
His death has since been ruled a homicide by authorities, and Doran has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
On December 9, officials from the Abu Dhabi Police Department joined an Embassy consular team in Hudson, Ohio, to represent Al Ameri’s family.
The UAE officials met state investigators, the medical examiner and Hudson police chief.
In a statement, the UAE Embassy in Washington said it is in close contact with the family of the deceased, and has done its best to provide support and assistance to them during this difficult time.
Yousuf Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to the US, was reported to have called Ohio Governor John Kasich last week and emphasised the importance of a thorough, transparent and timely investigation into the tragic shooting death of Al Ameri.
The embassy also expressed its deepest condolences to the family of Al Ameri, who carried out the funeral last Friday, at Bani Yas graveyard in Abu Dhabi.
