The Plenary Review

A few months ago, I posted about the tragic shooting of Lawrence Allen by an off-duty Philadelphia police officer. Sadly, Mr. Allen passed away three months after the shooting.

In February 2009,  Dafney Tales of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the following:

For nearly three months, Lawrence Allen fought an uphill battle to stay alive after an off-duty police officer shot him in the back.

Since the Nov. 17 shooting, the 20-year-old had been unable to breathe on his own, was paralyzed from the waist down, dropped more than half of his body weight and battled bouts of pneumonia before doctors removed his colon, said Charles Auspitz, Allen’s family attorney.

Yesterday, with loved ones at his bedside, Allen lost the fight when he died about 6 a.m., two days after being transferred from Albert Einstein Medical Center to a rehabilitation facility, said Auspitz.

Tales also provided follow-up coverage, including an interview with Mr. Allen’s sister, and on the filing of a federal lawsuit by Mr. Allen’s family. The article highlights the key facts that I find astounding, including the fact that the officer is still on desk duty:

The trouble started outside Bruno’s Pizza, at 19th Street and Cheltenham Avenue, about 9 that night, when [Sgt.] Ellison’s son was robbed of his pizza and punched in the face, according to police. The boy then told his dad what happened, police said.

Near the pizza shop, Ellison confronted a teen he suspected of mugging his son, 17-year-old Demetrius Haywood, who then sprinted up Renovo Street near 20th with a pizza to Allen’s home, Allen’s family has said.

Haywood told them that he had robbed a kid and that the dad was after him, family members said.

They say Ellison, behind the wheel of a black SUV with tinted windows, drove the wrong way up Renovo Street.

Ellison, on the force since August 2000, spotted some young people he believed had been involved in the robbery, police said.

He got out of the SUV, drew his gun and identified himself as a cop, according to the suit.

He approached Allen, who told him that he wasn’t involved in the robbery and then turned around to leave, according to the suit and witnesses.

Ellison fired once, shooting Allen in the back, and fled in his SUV, according to witnesses.

He later returned after other officers had arrived.

Ellison later told police that he thought Allen had reached for a weapon and that they had struggled, but witnesses said that Allen wasn’t armed and never touched the officer.

No gun was recovered from Allen’s home, which was searched twice.

During his hospital stay, Allen was charged with aggravated assault, hindering apprehension,weapons and related offenses and put under 24-hour police surveillance.

When I first heard this story, my common sensibilties were raised, but the attorney in me raged. Had this situation been reversed (an officer shot instead of an unarmed civilian), the shooter would already be knee-deep in pretrial hearings on a fast track to trial.

The fact that Ellison was off-duty, approached a crowd of people that he suspected may be involved in a situation with his son, and pulled a gun on them is inexcusable and the type of vigilante justice that the police warn the public against. Ellison’s excuse – that he thought Allen may have been armed – is equally unexcusable, because had he not taken a gun into a dispute (over pizza!) that many parents handle with words (or the filing of a complaint with the police) this tragedy could have been avoided.

Ellison’s leaving the scene speaks volumes about his actions and character.