A Pennsylvania police officer has been charged with voluntary manslaughter after killing Glenn Pysher, a college student who mistakenly tried to enter a stranger’s home after a night out.
Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell, 58, is charged in the August 23 death of Pysher, an unarmed 22-year-old who was shot and killed after knocking on the door of a home he believed belonged to his friend, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said Tuesday.
Prosecutors said that footage from Farrell’s body-cam revealed the officer had less-than-lethal options he could have used before shooting Pysher — and that the 22-year-old had his hands in the air during the encounter with police.
The night of the shooting, Pysher was celebrating a friend’s birthday at a bar in Upper Pottsgrove, about 45 miles northwest of Philadelphia, when the group decided to move the party back to one of their houses. He decided to walk to the home, but began knocking on the wrong door, prompting the homeowners to call the cops.
Farrell was the first officer on the scene after the 911 call, and the body-cam footage showed he had his gun drawn and was using its light to illuminate the home’s driveway.
open image in galleryUpon seeing Pysher by the home’s back door, Farrell yelled, “Police, let me see your hands” and “Hands up, hands up now, drop to the ground.” Pysher then raised his hands as he walked toward the officer, according to a press release from the district attorney’s office.
Pysher is seen on video raising his hands and walking toward the officer, even as Farrell yells, “Drop to the ground,” according to the release. Farrell continued to yell at him to “drop to the ground,” before telling him “Stop or I’ll…”
Before he finished the sentence, Farrell fired two shots, hitting Pysher twice in the chest. Pysher was about 17 to 20 feet away from the officer at the time of the shooting, the district attorney’s office said.
“As the District Attorney, it is my role under the law to evaluate the totality of the circumstances of any fatal shooting by police and to determine whether that use of lethal force was justified under the law,” Steele said. “The investigation found that Cpl. Farrell had less-than-lethal options on his utility belt that he did not employ, including a taser.”
At the time of the shooting, Farrell was “a safe distance from Pysher behind a car,” while Pysher “had his hands in the air and did not possess any type of weapon,” Steele said in a press release.
“Mr. Pysher was not a threat. This is not a legal use of deadly force, leading to the charge of Voluntary Manslaughter,” the district attorney added.
Ken Fulginiti, an attorney for the Pysher family, thanked the district attorney in a statement, writing, “The family is grateful for the work of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office and they are looking forward to justice in this horribly tragic, preventable and reckless conduct that took the life of their son.”
This is a breaking news story, check back for updates…