Two Shootings in Philadelphia

A cop was murdered the other night:

THERE IS a hole in Manuel Dias' newsstand.

The hole isn't as big as those left in the 35th District or in the city's heart in the wake of Officer John Pawlowski's death, but it is emblematic of both.

Dias' newsstand is mere feet from where Pawlowski, 25, was slain about 8:15 p.m. Friday in the city's Logan section by a man police identified as Rasheed Scrugs, 33, a "cold-blooded killer" with a criminal past.

The hole in Dias' newsstand is from one of the six shots fired by Scrugs' .357 Magnum that night, he said.

"In a civilized country people don't do things like that," Dias said. "Normal human being can't just kill like that."

The funeral is Friday at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter & Paul, which traditionally does police funerals, and will probably be very well-attended by politicians like the Mayor and maybe the Governor.

I don't know how many politicians will go to this guy's funeral:

Since the Nov. 17 shooting, the 20-year-old [Lawrence Allen] 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.

"He went through absolute hell, terror," he said. "It would break your heart to see it. He never got out of the hospital."

Family members were too grief-stricken to comment, he said.

The difference may be explained by the job title of the man who shot Lawrence Allen in the back. It's police Sergeant Chauncey Ellison:

Ellison, Herder said, had a gun in his hand. Allen had his hands at his side. "They were spread out and down," she said.

Ellison got closer to Allen, who is about 5 feet 5. "They were inches from each other. . . . The man with the gun was a lot taller than the victim," she said. "He [Ellison] had the gun up, pointed down to [Allen's] back," she said.

"He shook his gun and [Allen] was leaning against a car. He had nowhere to go," said Herder, who said she has given a statement to detectives.

[Police office Robin] Fortune, she said, kept screaming. "She was egging [Ellison] on," Herder said. "I think he just snapped."

"It was totally uncalled for," Herder said. Herder said she never saw Allen with a gun. "He never reached for anything," she said. "I'm 100 percent sure of it."

Herder heard one shot and watched Allen collapse first against the car, then to the street. "After he was shot, I left the window to call 9-1-1," she said. "When I came back to the window, the SUV was gone."

She watched family and friends help Allen into a car. Later when police came to the block, she learned that the man who had pulled the trigger was a cop.

After shooting Allen, the off-duty officer Ellison, who was dressed in plain clothes, wordlessly got into his SUV and drove away.

Charges were filed in the case - against the man who was shot in the back, Allen. Officer Ellison was placed on desk duty and an Internal Affairs investigation was begun. No action was taken against Officer Fortune, despite the allegations of her role in the shooting. Ellison claims he thought Allen was reaching for a gun when he shot him in the back. No gun was recovered.

Let me make a prediction: No charges will be filed against Ellison and the whole matter will be dropped. Meanwhile, Rasheed Scrugs will get the death penalty.

Comments

[phillygrrl]

Better to be safe than/then sorry.

"Police Capt. James Clark of the Homicide Unit said Scruggs had a .357 magnum handgun concealed in his coat pocket and fired through his coat at Pawlowski."

But I am not familiar with Allen's case. Will brush up.

[gimp]

Chauncey Ellison enjoyed the "do what ever you want and get away with it" badge formerly given out here in Philadelphia courtesy of the Police Department and District Attorney's office under the Hon. Lynn "tough cookie"*Tm Abraham.

* Subject to limitations and conditions, including but not limited to LEO status of potential criminal defendant or politically connected friendster status of potential criminal defendant. Read tortured intellectual twistings in mind of the "cookie" for full details and mildly entertaining justification.