SIDNEY – The four Sidney police officers involved in the fatal shooting at the Sidney Foodtown on Dec. 21 are back to work following being placed on administrative leave.

The officers involved were Jason Viapiano, Andrew Shappie, Aaron Wesbecher and Sgt. Chris Burmeister. According to Sidney City Manager Andrew Bowsher, three of the officers returned to duty on Dec. 29 and the fourth officer returned on Jan. 5. It was up to the city to determine when the officers would return to work despite an active investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).

“The police department and our legal department have been in lockstep with BCI during this process. After our team reviewed the body cam footage and had early conversations with BCI, it was clear that this was a justified incident,” Bowsher said. “After internal discussions and each officer being cleared by medical professionals, a recommendation was made to have them return to duty. In this instance, it is normal to have the officers return once cleared. Our goal was to safely and expeditiously return our officers to active duty, where they can continue to serve and protect our city, as they did within this incident.”