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VIENNA – Two years after a shooting near Grand Central Mall left one person dead, local police said the event did lead to changes in procedure.
Steven Lewis Pfalzgraf, 24, of Parkersburg, was shot after a confrontation with police after a purse snatching at the mall on Jan. 14, 2014.
Several local police officers were at the mall that day as part of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security training exercise.
John David Ragalyi, of Newport, Ohio, was arrested and charged with petit larceny for the purse snatching and was also charged with fleeing on foot.
Police said Ragalyi took the purse and was pursued by two officers taking part in the exercise at the mall.
Ragalyi reportedly got into a car driven by Pfalzgraf. He was shot by Parkersburg Detective P.M. Edelen after Pfalzgraf reportedly dragged Sgt. J.M. Stalnaker, who tried to get the key out of the ignition, and turned the vehicle toward Edelen.
Vienna Police Chief George Young said the event did not lead to any changes in procedures for the department.
“That involved a Parkersburg officer,” he said. “There were two from Vienna taking part in the exercise. The prosecutor’s office called for the state police to do the investigation.”
However, Young said the incident did drive home a point.
“The biggest thing we learned was something like this can happen anywhere, including Vienna,” he said Thursday.
Parkersburg Police Chief Joe Martin said Thursday the incident led to a few changes for the city police. In 2015 Martin submitted more than 30 amended rules that were approved by city council. Some of the polices were in effect for more than four years while others were in effect for only a few months.
“We had never been involved in a city where one of our officers was put in a situation where he had to use deadly force,” Martin said. In July of the same year, another shooting involving two city police officers took place after a traffic stop at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Plum Street in Parkersburg.
Martin said one policy change was how to handle the officer involved after the incident.
“We made a change to better handle the situation and better appreciate what they went through,” he said. “Our policy did not cover how to handle the officer and how to prevent long-term trauma.”
Martin said the old policy called for an officer to be put on administrative leave, but now the policy calls for reassignment to administrative duty.
Lessons taken from the mall event were on how to handle informing the public and the media.
“We put the information out there as quick and timely as possible,” Martin said. “By doing that it did not create a lot of speculation; we kept the media and the public informed from the start to the finish.”
Martin said more than two dozen local police officers were involved in the exercise at the mall.
“Our officers acted accordingly to what they saw,” Martin said.
Martin said the shooting led to a first in his law enforcement career.
“It was one of the few time we’ve had to use deadly force and talking to the family of the deceased individual was a first for me,” he said.
According to records from the Wood County Magistrate Court, John David Ragalyi was charged on Jan. 21, 2014 with petit larceny and fleeing on foot. He appeared before Magistrate Joyce Purkey on March 12, 2014. He was sentenced to concurrent terms of nine months in jail with credit for 51 days served. He was not assessed a fine but he was assessed $320.50 in court costs. Records show he has not paid the assessed fees as of Jan. 14.