Pubdate: Thu, 10 Aug 2006
Source: Morning Call (Allentown, PA)
Copyright: 2006 The Morning Call Inc.
Contact:  http://www.mcall.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/275
Author: Pervaiz Shallwani
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

TOWAMENCIN POLICEMAN CLEARED IN SHOOTING OF SUSPECT

Detective Was Right To Use Deadly Force, DA Rules.

A Towamencin Township police detective who shot a 19-year-old suspect 
as he and an accomplice tried to flee a drug bust was justified in 
using deadly force, the Montgomery County district attorney said Wednesday.

The ruling clears Detective James Hanrahan, who shot Chad Hacker Jr. 
in the stomach Aug. 3 outside the Wawa at Forty Foot Road and Sumneytown Pike.

Prosecutors say Hacker, of 337 Homestead Drive, Lower Salford 
Township, and driver Jonathan A. Moyer, 20, of 418 Hill Road, Salford 
Township, had just paid $7,000 for 10 pounds of marijuana and tried 
to escape after police told them to stop. Moyer is accused of trying 
to run Hanrahan over.

"This was not a difficult decision," District Attorney Bruce Castor 
said. "Everyone gets reviewed thoroughly as a matter of policy, but 
from the beginning, I did not see anything wrong with this."

Castor said the shooting was justified for two reasons. First, he 
said, Hanrahan was "quite reasonably" in danger, and second, Hanrahan 
has an obligation to keep a felon from getting away .

He defined deadly force as "force which is readily capable of causing 
death or serious bodily injury, whether or not either result is 
actually caused."

After the shooting, township Police Chief Tim Dickinson immediately 
put Hanrahan on administrative leave and turned the case over to 
Castor's office for investigation.

Castor said Hanrahan gave a detailed account to county detectives 
immediately after the shooting. Detectives also interviewed officers 
from other departments and people at the scene. County detectives 
also collected evidence, including the bullet casing, for a forensic 
examination.

Castor ordered that the gun used by Hanrahan be returned to 
Towamencin police and said he is free to return to duty when 
Dickinson considers it appropriate.

Hanrahan suffered minor injuries during the incident, but is fine 
Dickinson said. Castor's office gave this account of the incident:

Towamencin police and county detectives were conducting an undercover 
drug investigation at the Wawa. As they secretly watched, Moyer and 
Hacker bought 10 pounds of marijuana in the parking lot. Immediately 
after the drug deal, police officers approached the car in which the 
two were riding.

Hanrahan drove his truck up to the car and got out to approach. He 
yelled "Police! Turn off the car!" twice, which the driver ignored. 
Hanrahan then repeatedly yelled "Police! Stop!"

Moyer backed up, then accelerated forward and turned toward Hanrahan. 
Hanrahan got stuck between the car and an undercover police truck and 
shot one round from his revolver in an effort to avoid being crushed 
between the vehicles.

The shot went through the front passenger's-side window and hit 
Hacker in the stomach. The car then swerved away from the detective 
and crashed into a police car in the parking lot, "so the shooting 
was effective," Castor said.

Hacker was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 
Philadelphia and released the next day.

One witness told detectives: "I saw the [car] they were in back up 
real fast, stop then drive forward real fast," Castor's office said.

Another witness told police the driver was trying to ram police. "He 
was trying to run them over," the witness said.

Detectives searched the car and found a loaded .22-caliber gun, they said.

A ballistics expert examined the scene and determined Hanrahan fired 
a single shot from his service weapon, a .357-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

Moyer and Hacker are charged with drug violations; Moyer is also 
charged with attempted murder and related crimes.
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