John Kasich Reacts to Ohio Police Officer’s Death

Ohio Gov. John Kasich says the fatal shooting of a police officer in his state is a reminder that police officers face danger every day.

Kasich, campaigning for his presidential bid in New Hampshire, also said Monday that it is important to remember that many Americans rightly look at police with skepticism. His delicate tone on police is the result of protests in Cleveland over the police shooting of a 12-year-old boy with a pellet gun.

“Today in Ohio, for the first time in the history of this little town called Danville, a police officer was stalked and killed in his cruiser,” Kasich said at an economy-focused town hall meeting at Dartmouth College. It was a brief break from his campaign to tend to home-state developments.

An Ohio man was in custody on Monday and suspected of killing Officer Thomas Cottrell in a village near Columbus, Ohio. Prosecutors were preparing murder charges against Herschel Ray Jones. Police organizations called it an assassination.

Kasich, who is campaigning hard in New Hampshire and has held roughly 150 events in the state, made brief mention of the shooting during his session with Dartmouth students and guests.

“It’s important for all of us to recognize [the] concerns people have in the community about the fact that sometimes they think the system not only doesn’t work for them, but against them,” Kasich said. “We also have to recognize that every day when a police officer puts his or her uniform [on], they’re at risk.”