- Police Brutality Watch

Suburban Pittsburgh Police officer Exonerated in Fatal shooting of Black Man, Gilbert Carswell

Appeals court rules actions 'reasonable'

A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit against a suburban Pittsburgh police officer who fatally shot a man during a domestic disturbance call. Gilbert Carswell's widow, Tonya Carswell, claimed that Homestead police Officer Frank Snyder didn't have to shoot Gilbert Carswell in November 1999 because he was unarmed and surrendering. Evidence showed that Carswell rushed from an alley at Snyder with his arms outstretched. Snyder has maintained that Carswell ran into him and his gun accidentally fired. A three-judge panel of the U-S Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a reasonable officer wouldn't be expected to risk being assaulted by a fleeing man who was close enough that he could seize the officer's gun. A lower court judge had dismissed the suit last year based on a U-S Supreme Court ruling that officers should be granted immunity even if force resulted from "reasonable, but mistaken beliefs" about the situation they faced. [more

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