An Upper Pottsgrove police corporal has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 22-year-old Glenwood Earl Pysher IV, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele announced Tuesday.
Corporal Sean Farrell, 58, is charged in connection with the Aug. 23 shooting. He turned himself in to Montgomery County detectives on Tuesday and is awaiting arraignment. He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The shooting happened around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 23, when Farrell responded to a report of a man behind a home on Snyder Road.
Body-worn camera video shows Farrell walking down the driveway with his department firearm drawn, officials said. He positioned himself behind a red car and saw Pysher standing on the patio.
Farrell yelled, “Police, let me see your hands,” and “Hands up, hands up now, drop to the ground,” according to investigators. Officials said the video shows Pysher clearly raising his hands and walking toward Farrell. Farrell yelled again for him to drop to the ground.
Farrell then yelled, “Stop or I’ll…” and fired two shots before finishing the sentence, shooting Pysher twice in the chest, officials said. Investigators said Pysher was 17 to 20 feet away. Two spent casings from Farrell’s gun were recovered. No other weapon was found. Officials said Pysher was unarmed.
Investigators later determined Pysher had been out celebrating a friend’s birthday at several bars on Saturday, Aug. 22. A designated driver took Pysher and others to a friend’s house. Around 11:30 p.m., Pysher left to walk about a half mile to another friend’s house and ended up on the back patio of the wrong home, believing that was where his friend lived, officials said.
After investigating, officials determined Farrell was not justified in using deadly force.
“The investigation found that Cpl. Farrell had less-than-lethal options on his utility belt that he did not employ, including a taser,” Steele said. “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, leading to the charge of voluntary manslaughter.”
Pysher had played baseball at Northampton County Community College and transferred to St. Elizabeth College in New Jersey for his senior season, where he planned to keep playing baseball and study to become a history teacher, his mother said.
“He just turned 22 on the 10th,” she told NBC10. “He just had a birthday he was supposed to start school and go to college. He was supposed to play baseball and live his life and it was cut short.”
Source: NBC10 Philadelphia.
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