DA Marsico clears Harrisburg officer in fatal shooting
Photo by Ben Allen/WITF
(Harrisburg) — Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico has cleared a Harrisburg police officer in the shooting death of Earl Pinckney.
Dauphin County DA Ed Marsico says Harrisburg Officer Tony Elliott was justified when he shot and killed Earl Pinckney in a bedroom August 7th.
He says all three officers in the bedroom that night reported that they saw Pinckney holding a knife to his mother Kim Thomas’s neck.
Marisco says Officer Elliott’s shot was necessary to protect her life.
“What we focus on is ‘Was there a threat to an individual’, in this case, to Ms. Thomas, and ‘Did the officer act reasonably under the circumstances?’”
The investigation lasted nearly three months.
Marsico says less than a minute passed from the time the three officers entered the bedroom until the shot was fired.
“These are tough situations for the police when they see someone brandishing a knife towards someone else. And in this case, both the facts and the law clearly point out that no charge of murder could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” he adds.
Pinckney was shot on his left side, slightly below his armpit by Officer Elliott, who was standing to his left.
The attorney for Pinckney’s family questioned whether Elliott could have used a stun gun instead.
Marsico’s report says after the shooting, Kim Thomas told two detectives that her son Pinckney had a knife, and two other officers also heard her talk about a knife, but she later told the media that he did not have a knife.
Marsico also says there is no physical evidence to support a rumor that police shot Pinckney through a window.
Marsico’s report details numerous encounters between police and Earl Pinckney, including four different instances when he was criminally charged.
He says the mental health system could have done a better job to get Pinckney help.
The Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office has also released 911 calls from the night of the shooting.
In a statement, Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse says he will review the case files “in the interest of transparency and to encourage public trust in the conclusions”.
Harrisburg Police Chief Thomas Carter says an administrative review of the officer’s decision is ongoing, and he remains on paid leave.
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