What a time… To be a cop! A small-town police officer who fatally shot an unarmed motorist in the back as he lay face down on the ground was acquitted Thursday at her murder trial. Hit the jump for more details.
A Dauphin County jury acquitted Hummelstown Officer Lisa Mearkle of third-degree murder and voluntary and involuntary manslaughter charges in a shooting captured by a camera attached to her stun gun.
The video, which was played to jurors, showed Mearkle shocking 59-year-old David Kassick after he fled from a traffic stop before shooting him twice in the back as he lay face down in the snow in February.
After the verdict, Mearkle tearfully said she was sorry the shooting had happened.
“I feel relief right now, but it’s going to take a little bit for me to get back to my normal self,” she told reporters. “This has taken a toll on me that nobody understands.”
Mearkle said she wanted Kassick’s family to know that: “I truly wish it didn’t happen. I want them to know that. I didn’t want to shoot anybody.”
Mearkle, 37, testified Wednesday that she believed Kassick was still a threat even after she shocked him repeatedly with a stun gun.
In the video, which was later released to the public after the verdict was handed down, Kassick’s hands repeatedly disappeared underneath his body as Mearkle screamed at him to keep them where she could see them and then fired the fatal shots.
Watch the video of the incident below.
