STROUDSBURG, Pa.—The family of a teenager fatally shot by Pennsylvania State Police in 2020 is suing department personnel, Monroe County district attorneys and the county itself, alleging, among other things, that troopers used excessive force.
State police shot Christian Hall, 19, on Dec. 30, 2020, after about 90 minutes of attempts at negotiation and de-escalation. Troopers responded after Hall anonymously called 911 about a possibly suicidal person. Hall held a pellet gun pointed up and away from the police, and he was shot with his hands in the air.
The federal lawsuit in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, filed by Hall’s parents Faith and Gareth Hallwho are represented by civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Devon M. Jacob, includes a wrongful death claim.
“The Pennsylvania State Police cannot comment on pending litigation,” Brent Miller, a spokesperson for the department told the Pocono Record, part of the USA TODAY Network.
CHRISTIAN HALL CASE:Unredacted footage shows Christian Hall, 19, with his hands up when fatally shot by Pennsylvania State Police
Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Robert Evanchik and four Pennsylvania State Police troopers are also defendants.
The troopers are accused of excessive force and failure to intervene, both Fourth Amendment violations. The lawsuit says Hall never threatened troopers and did not point a weapon at anyone.
The Monroe County district attorney’s office found the shooting justified and declined to ask Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office for an outside review.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, also alleges Evanchik, Monroe County District Attorney E. David Christine Jr. and First Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso conspired to interfere with Hall’s parents’ civil rights.
Christine and Mancuso sought to embarrass Hall’s parents, covered up false police statements and misled the public, the lawsuit says, while Evanchik authorized a false police statement, did not have it redacted and delayed an internal investigation, according to the suit.
GRIEF, FAITH AND ANGER:Christian Hall’s parents reflect on a year without their son
Mancuso said Wednesday afternoon he briefly reviewed the complaint but said, “it fails to state a valid claim against the DA’s Office, DA Christine, and myself.”
After the shooting, state police issued a statement claiming that troopers fired after Hall pointed his weapon at them. Dashcam video showed Hall did not do that.
The District Attorney’s Office in March 2021 released footage of the shooting but blurred and redacted the final seconds of video. Before the blur, Hall is last seen with his hands up. Months later, unredacted video, obtained by Spotlight PA and NBC News from Hall’s parents, showed Hall kept his hands above his head for 14 seconds, with the gun pointed away from the police. With his hands still up, troopers fired a series of gunshots at Hall.
The lawsuit says the family obtained the footage via subpoena, but that Evanchik initially objected and later sought to release the video subject to a confidentially agreement.
When Mancuso showed the blurred footage at a press conference, the “presentation misleads the viewer into believing that in the redacted portion of the video, (Hall) pointed the perceived handgun at Troopers while advancing on Troopers,” the lawsuit says. The suit alleges Christine and Mancuso intentionally meant to misled the public and support the false police statement with the blurred video.
Mancuso defended the office’s holding of a press conference, saying prosecutors had a “responsibility to keep the public informed and reassured that this tragic incident was not due to the unjustified use of deadly force by law enforcement.”
The lawsuit also says the two prosecutors retaliated against Hall’s parents due to their criticism of state police and the district attorney’s office. Fe and Gareth Hall wanted the state attorney general to investigate the claims, which the suit also mentions.
In the lawsuit, Hall’s family’s lawyers argued the state attorney general couldn’t investigate unless invited to do so by local prosecutors, according to state law. But Mancuso said Wednesday the attorney general can seek to supersede the district attorney to launch a criminal investigation if the attorney general shows “that the DA failed or refused to prosecute and that failure constitutes an abuse of discretion,” Mancuso said in a written statement.
“The AG has not and will not attempt a supersession. The circumstances surrounding the use of deadly force demonstrate that such force was justified under the circumstances known to the officers,” Mancuso added.
Hall was 70 feet away and stood “in the universal position of surrender” when shot, the lawsuit says.
“What happened to Christian and his parents is not excusable,” Crump and Jacob said in a statement Wednesday.
www.usatoday.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism