Pa. police officer charged​ after fatally shooting student at wrong home

An Upper Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania, police officer has been charged with voluntary manslaughter after allegedly shooting and killing a college student who was at the wrong house.

Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell was charged with voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Glenwood Earl Pysher IV on Aug. 23, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele announced Tuesday.  

Officials said Pysher knocked on the door of the wrong home after being out at a bar with friends. What followed was a very quick interaction with Farrell and a shooting that Steele said was not justified. 

“This is not a legal use of lethal force,” Steele said.

Steele said Pysher was out at a bar early on Aug. 23 before deciding to walk to a friend’s house. But he knocked on the wrong door, leading the homeowners to report a break-in. 

Farrell showed up and found Pysher on a back patio, officials said. 

Steele said body camera video shows Farrell gave Pysher commands to put his hands up and drop to the ground. 

Officials said Pysher was unarmed. Farrell was equipped with a taser and a baton, but went straight to his weapon. 

Steele said body camera video shows Farrell later telling another officer that Pysher charged at him, screaming and yelling. 

But Steele said that’s not what they saw when they reviewed the video.

“The young man has his hands up, he does not have a weapon, he did not charge or act aggressively, he was not a threat to the homeowners, he was inebriated but listening to commands about putting his hands up,” Steele said. “He’s not trying to escape or didn’t commit a forcible felony.”

CBS News spoke with Pysher’s parents last week. They described their son as a good kid loved by his community. He was set to start at Saint Elizabeth University in New Jersey this week.

“They are trying very hard to understand why this happened, and why their son was taken away from them,” Steele said.

Farrell turned himself in to Montgomery County detectives Tuesday. He is slated to be arraigned later Tuesday evening.