DA: Police shooting of man justified
>> An Upper Perk police officer was justified in “the use of deadly force” when a Pennsburg man charged at him while brandishing a sword, Montgomery County’s top law enforcement official has ruled in the investigation of the fatal officer-involved shooting.
District Attorney Kevin R. Steele announced on Monday that the county detective bureau’s independent investigation concluded that the Feb. 9 fatal shooting by Upper Perk police of Trey Bartholomew, 27, of Valley Court in Pennsburg, was a lawful use of force. The investigation found that Bartholomew threatened police with a 23-inch sword during an encounter in Long Alley.
“The dispatch reports police received were that the man left his house to kill anybody he encountered, and when he encountered a police officer, the evidence is that he tried to do just that,” Steele said on Monday. “The Upper Perk police officer acted by discharging his firearm to put a stop to a lethal threat. Our investigation determined the facts of this case supported the use of deadly force.”
County detectives conducted the investigation, which is standard procedure in officer-involved shootings in the county. The Upper Perk Police Department and the officer involved cooperated with the investigation, Steele said.
Multiple witnesses were interviewed during the investigation and a partial video as well as audio recording of the shooting were recovered from a home security camera, authorities revealed.
The incident began about 7:41 p.m. when a 911 operator dispatched Upper Perk police to investigate a report about a family member, Bartholomew, leaving the house armed with a sword and threatening to kill anyone who came up to him. Multiple Upper Perk police units were dispatched to search for the suspect and an Upper Perk police officer with his vehicle lights and siren activated spotted the suspect in Long Alley.
After exiting his vehicle, the unidentified officer observed Bartholomew brandish a large sword in his right hand, with the blade of the sword pointed directly at the officer, according to Steele. As he brandished the sword, Bartholomew allegedly uttered, “What’s up (expletive)?”
The officer pulled out his weapon and gave two commands to “put it down, put it down,” according to the independent investigation. Bartholomew allegedly refused and charged the officer with the sword.
The officer fired three times, striking Bartholomew twice. Bartholomew fell to the ground still holding the sword, investigators said.
Additional officers from Upper Perk and surrounding jurisdictions arrived and assisted in removing the sword from Bartholomew’s hand. Officers rendered first aid, but Bartholomew was pronounced dead by arriving emergency medical responders.
A 23-inch sword was recovered from the scene, according to investigators. Analysis of the recovered home surveillance video and audio revealed that it was a five-second period from when the officer yelled two verbal commands for the suspect to put down the weapon and the three shots were fired.
An autopsy performed by Dr. Frederick Hellman, a forensic pathologist with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, determined Bartholomew died of gunshot wounds to the upper left chest and upper left arm.
Under state law, a law enforcement officer is “justified in using deadly force only when he believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or such other person…” Additionally, according to state law, the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers is justified to defeat…the escape of a person who possesses a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict serious bodily injury unless arrested without delay.