By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- Upper Pottsgrove, Pa., Police Cpl. Sean Farrell, 58, has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the Aug. 23 fatal shooting of 22-year-old Glenwood Earl Pysher IV.
- Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said Pysher, who had mistakenly gone to the wrong house, had his hands raised and was unarmed when Farrell shot him twice in the chest from 17 to 20 feet away.
- Steele said Farrell had less-lethal options, including a Taser, that he did not use, and determined the shooting was not a legal use of deadly force.
- Farrell turned himself in Tuesday; bail was set at $75,000 with conditions including surrendering his weapons, and he has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Sept. 10.
- Pysher had left a birthday gathering to walk to a friend’s house and ended up at the wrong address, where he knocked and called out before sitting down to wait, according to his father and investigators.
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania police officer has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old college student who had mistakenly gone to the wrong house and was waiting outside for friends, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele announced Tuesday.
Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell, 58, is charged in the Aug. 23 death of Glenwood Earl Pysher IV. Steele said the officer had less-than-lethal options on his utility belt, including a Taser, that he did not use. “At the time of the shooting, the officer was a safe distance from Pysher behind a car, and the victim had his hands in the air and did not possess any type of weapon. Mr. Pysher was not a threat. This is not a legal use of deadly force,” Steele said in a news release.
According to the district attorney’s office, Farrell was the first officer to respond after a resident called 911 to report someone trying to break into a back door. Body camera footage showed Farrell approaching with his weapon drawn and ordering Pysher, who was near the back door, to show his hands and get on the ground. Video shows Pysher raising his hands and walking toward the officer as Farrell repeated commands to drop to the ground; Farrell then fired twice, striking Pysher in the chest from a distance of 17 to 20 feet.
Investigators found that Pysher had been out celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday and left the gathering around 11:30 p.m. to walk to another friend’s house, ending up at the wrong address. Pysher’s father, Glen Pysher, said he believes his son thought he had reached his friend’s home, knocked and called out before sitting on the back porch and contacting friends, who set out to find him after realizing his mistake.
Farrell turned himself in to Montgomery County detectives Tuesday. Magisterial District Judge Kathleen Rebar set bail at $75,000, with Farrell required to surrender his weapons to state police as a condition of release. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Sept. 10.
An attorney for Pysher’s family, Ken Fulginiti, said the family is “grateful for the work of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office” and looking forward to justice in the case.