Pennsylvania police officer suspended after homicide charge

A Pennsylvania police department on Wednesday suspended one of its officers after prosecutors charged her with criminal homicide over the killing of an unarmed man during a February traffic stop in Hummelstown, a suburb of the state capital, Harrisburg. The charges come as states and cities increasingly fall under federal scrutiny over police shootings.  

The suspension was mandatory under Pennsylvania law. Hummelstown Police Officer Lisa J. Mearkle, who has served for 14 years, will likely face firing if convicted, PennLive.com reported. She has been released on $250,000 bail.

In the charges Wednesday, state prosecutors accused Mearkle, 36, of shooting 59-year-old David Kassick twice on Feb. 2 without legal justification. Investigators concluded she shot the unarmed motorist in the back as he lay facedown after she pulled him over for having expired inspection stickers on his vehicle.

Her attorney, Brian Perry, said Mearkle acted in self-defense. He warned that the case could cause police officers to hesitate in high-pressure situations.

"She felt like she had to do what she did," Perry said. "This person was being commanded, begged, 'show me your hands,' and he kept going to his waist."

Authorities said Mearkle had attempted to pull Kassick over for expired inspection and emissions stickers before he sped away. She allegedly caught up to Kassick near his sister's home, where he had been living for a short time.

He got out and ran before Mearkle incapacitated him with a stun gun, held in her left hand, authorities said. He was on the ground when she shot him twice in the back with the pistol in her right hand.

Mearkle, 36, told investigators she fired because Kassick would not show her his hands, and she thought he was reaching into his jacket for a gun. Perry said she did not know Kassick before the shooting.

The offense of criminal homicide encompasses a range of charges, from misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter to felony first-degree murder. Prosecutors often narrow the charge later in the process, at about the time when defendants are formally arraigned.

The stun gun used by Mearkle contained a camera that recorded audio and video from portions of the encounter with Kassick, and District Attorney Ed Marsico called that the strongest evidence in the case.

He said it appeared from the video that Kassick had been trying to remove the stun-gun probe from his back just before he was shot.

"At the time Officer Mearkle fires both rounds from her pistol, the video clearly depicts Kassick lying on the snow covered lawn with his face toward the ground," according to the arrest affidavit. "Furthermore, at the time the rounds are fired nothing can be seen in either of Kassick's hands, nor does he point or direct anything toward Officer Mearkle."

Marsico said Mearkle waited four seconds between the first and second shots, and afterward performed CPR. He called the shooting "a tragedy for all involved."

The district attorney said a syringe was found near Kassick's body, and alcohol and unspecified drugs were found in his system.

Lawyers for Kassick's family and estate issued a statement calling the charges "a substantial step toward closure" after what they described as a horrifying tragedy. They said he had worked as a Teamsters union laborer and struggled with addiction.

"Mr. Kassick is now dead as a result of a traffic stop, a routine traffic stop," said one of the family's attorneys, Christopher Slusser. "He should not be dead. He should not have died as a result of that traffic stop. And the manner in which he was shot — you can infer from that what you will."

Hummelstown Police Chief Charles M. Dowell did not respond to a message seeking comment, but his department issued a news release that said it had cooperated fully, calling the matter "an extremely difficult case for all involved."

"We are servants of justice and must now allow the judicial process to conduct a fair and impartial review of the allegations that have been presented," the news release read.

Perry said Mearkle has been on the force for 15 years. She is married to a state trooper and has young children at home, he said. She was expected to be under electronic monitoring while out on bail.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press