A veteran Pennsylvania police officer was charged with criminal homicide Tuesday in the death of a suspect who was lying on the ground when she shot him last month, prosecutors said.
Hummelstown Police Officer Lisa Mearkle surrendered to authorities Tuesday and will face charges in the Feb. 2 death of David Kassick, 59, whom she was pursuing shortly before the fatal clash, according to her attorney, Brian Perry.
Perry said that Mearkle shot the man in self-defense and that she feared he was reaching for a weapon.
Kassick was carrying only a hypodermic needle when he was shot.
“She’s giving him repeated commands to show me your hands, and he keeps tucking them into his waistband under his stomach," Perry told the Los Angeles Times. "What is she supposed to do? Wait for him to roll over and shoot her?”
Calls to the Dauphin County district attorney's office, the Hummelstown Police Department and an attorney representing Kassick's family seeking comment were not returned.
Mearkle tried to pull Kassick over because his vehicle had expired emissions stickers, but he sped away, authorities said, according to a report in the Associated Press.
Security guard officer los angeles.
No comments:
Post a Comment