Police officer runs over homeless woman with car

Police officer runs over homeless woman with car

Investigators from the Ohio state patrol are looking into how a Cincinnati police cruiser ran over and killed a homeless woman in a park. The woman was apparently sleeping under a blanket on the grass when the police cruiser crushed her. She's identified as 48-year-old Joann Burton. Her family doesn't know how long she had been sleeping in the park but says the bad economy had been tough on her. A group has already held a prayer vigil in the park. The Hamilton County coroner's office will perform an autopsy on Burton to determine what caused her death. Police identified the officer driving the cruiser as Marty Polk. Polk has been placed on leave pending the investigation. Officials say it is not standard protocol to drive on the grass in the park but that is is also not unusual for officers to do that.