NORRISTOWN, Pa. — A Pennsylvania police officer who fatally shot a 22-year-old college student has been charged with voluntary manslaughter, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell, 58, is charged in the Aug. 23 death of Glenwood Earl Pysher IV.
The Montgomery County Detective Bureau investigated the shooting and reviewed footage from Farrell’s body-worn camera, the district attorney’s office said in a news release.
“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,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said in a news release. “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, 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.”
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