A registered sex offender charged with having a sexual relationship with an Akron teenager stabbed himself Saturday after fleeing from police in Olathe, Colorado, officials said.
John E. Reynolds, 25, stabbed himself in the heart with a letter opener, according to Dr. Thomas Canfield, the Montrose County, Colorado coroner. He ruled Reynolds' death a suicide.
Olathe police tried to stop Reynolds' car about 12:30 a.m. Saturday on a highway in the western Colorado town about 100 miles southwest of Aspen.
Reynolds ran from police for about 100 yards. He showed the knife at police officers, who used a stun gun on him, according to the Olathe police. Police have not said whether officers used a stun gun on Reynolds before or after he stabbed himself.
Reynolds was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The incident remains under investigation by the 7th Judicial District Critical Incident Team, which investigates officer-involved incidents. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is also investigating.
Two Olathe police officers are on administrative leave pending the result of the investigation.
Canfield said the fatal injury had nothing to do with police force. He said Reynolds suffered marks from the stun gun on his abdomen and chest and bruising on his wrists from the handcuffs.
Reynolds was charged two days before his death in Akron Municipal Court with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, which court record say was elevated to a second-degree felony due to a past conviction. A warrant was issued for his arrest.
Reynolds, who worked on Front Street in Cuyahoga Falls, according to the sex offender registry, was accused of having sex with a girl who was 14 and 15 years old between June and September. He walked out of an interview with Akron detectives and the warrant was soon issued for his arrest, police said.
Reynolds served about six months of an 18-month prison sentence in a similar case from Stark County.
He pleaded guilty in 2010 to having sex with a then-13-year-old girl in Hartville.
Reynolds was initially sentenced to 18 months in prison but was granted early release after serving about six months combined jail and prison time, court records say. ..Source.. by Adam Ferrise
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