Photo: www.philly.com

A few months ago, I posted an update to an earlier post about the tragic death of Lawrence Allen, who was gunned down (shot in the back) by Sgt. Chauncey Ellison, an off-duty Philadelphia police officer, over an alleged dispute involving a pizza and the officer’s son. 

Earlier this week, I heard on the local news that the city had suspended and planned to fire Sgt. Frank Tepper, another off-duty Philadelphia officer who took personal matters into his own hands when he shot a young neighbor in an incident involving the officer’s relatives. A grand jury is reviewing the case. According to the local ABC station, the Internal Affairs probe surrounding the Tepper incident is “one of the fastest conclusions ever of an IAD probe,” and  Tepper violated several regulations and was also being fired for the improper use of a firearm.

Naturally, this made me think of Lawrence Allen, and I checked philly.com expecting to find that I missed an update about the Lawrence Allen case, and that Officer Ellison had also been terminated and was facing charges. I was shocked - livid- when I read this:

TERRY BOWEN has waited more than a year to hear if authorities would bring criminal charges against an off-duty Philadelphia police sergeant who allegedly gunned down her unarmed son.

Unbeknown to Bowen, former District Attorney Lynne Abraham – in one of her last acts as top prosecutor – decided not to press charges against the cop, Chauncey Ellison.

“We received a letter of declination from the District Attorney’s Office saying they’re not going to prosecute. I think it came out on New Year’s Eve,” Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey told the Daily News last night.

No one bothered to tell Bowen, whose son Lawrence Allen died last February, three months after Ellison allegedly shot him in the back during a bizarre dispute in West Oak Lane. Allen, 20, was left paralyzed from the chest down. He dropped more than half his body weight and battled numerous infections before dying, his mother said.

“I am so furious,” Bowen said, after a reporter informed her of Abraham’s decision. “No one ever got in contact with me.”

To his credit, Seth Williams, the city’s new District Attorney, quickly announced that his office would review the case, and “could make a decision independent of the grand jury’s findings.”

Ellison is on desk duty, and the Allen family has filed a federal lawsuit. Lawrence Allen left a wife and young children. 

Of course, neither this, nor the ridiculous circumstances of the case, must have factored into the prior DA’s decision-making. Or, that Philadelphia has a troubling pattern of officers believing that their badges extend to personal matters. Apparently, these officers aren’t aware that, like regular citizens, they “should call 9-1-1 and act as a witness” when off-duty. Can someone please tell me why this double-standard requires explanation or a department policy?

TNH