Levittown, Pa. There are charges against the three Pennsylvania police officers from the Sharon Hill Police Department for the death of Fanta Bility and the injuries that other people received in the police-involved shooting on August 27. They have been charged with killing an 8-year-old girl outside a high school football game back in August.
District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said the charges were recommended by a grand jury after they looked at the case. Brian Devaney, 41; Sean Dolan, 25; Devon Smith, 33; and Devon Smith, 33, were charged.
It was set at $500,000, unsecured, for each officer. A preliminary hearing for Jan. 27 has been set for Springfield District Court, and the hearing will be about the charges.
It was a “horrible tragedy caused by armed and violent criminals who turned a high school football game into a crime scene,” the attorneys for the officers said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. They called it “a terrible tragedy.”
In a statement from attorneys Raymond Dirscoll, Steven Patton, and Charles Gibbs, they said: These three officers ran to the sound of gunshots and risked their own lives to protect that community.” We are proud of them. “These three good men aren’t guilty, and I’m still heartbroken for all the people who have been hurt by this senseless crime.”
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Pennsbury High School had just finished its game against Academy Park High School when police shot a passing car. According to the charging documents, the car was not involved in a shooting a block away from the football stadium that nite in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania.
During a game in September, Pennsylvania police officers fired bullets that hit four people, including the girl who was leaving when they did. She was killed. Her 12-year-old sister was one of the people who got hurt.
Fans, high school football players, and coaches ran for cover after Pennsbury’s first game on the road on the first nite of the season.
There was an argument between a group of young men that turned into gunfire about one block from the entrance to the Knights Park Stadium.
As the players were leaving the field and people were leaving the stadium after the game, there was gunfire.
There was still time for the Pennsbury team to leave the stadium, but many of their fans were at the gate or walking by.
A radio broadcast of the game from WBCB 1490 caught the rapid fire as it came to an end. It took some time for the score to be announced, and then there were a lot of gunshots in the background.
According to the complaint, the Sharon Hill police officers were outside the stadium’s exit, and as shots were fired, a car turned onto the street right in front of them.
DA: “That gunfire included two shots that went right at three defendants, who were in charge of watching the crowd leave the Academy Park High School stadium at the end of that night’s football game.” “The police then fired their service weapons in the direction of the Academy Park football field,” says the teacher.
Pennsylvania police say that Devaney told a detective right after the shooting that “they were shooting at us” and that “we were getting shot at from down the street.”
It looked like they were shooting at us a lot. There were a lot of shots going off in front of us, and “the next thing I know, this car comes up.”
The car that police shot at as it drove past a stadium and toward where spectators were getting out was not involved in a shooting a block away, according to the complaint.
Pennsylvania police said the car was being driven by “two girls going to a football game,”
According to court documents, all three cops had body cameras, but Devaney didn’t have one on that nite, and Dolan and Smith didn’t turn them on on their own.
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Outside the stadium, some Pennsbury fans said they saw two black cars speed by and then shots were fired. One parent said, “It was so bad,”
Pennsbury coaches, the school’s security team, and players were all thanked for getting players and other people to safety during the incident.
There was an accident on the field. Players were told to run to the other side of the field, and officials found a way out of the scene.
They left all their things in the locker room, which their parents later took.
It was later that nite when the players went back to school. When they came back the next day, they were given counseling as well as in the days that followed. Since the accident, the team has held fundraisers for Fanta and her family to help them pay for things.
Another thing Stollsteimer said on Tuesday was that murder charges against the two teenagers who were charged with killing Fanta had been dropped.
Stollsteimer said in a statement. “While I think these defendants should be held accountable for starting the chain of events that led to Fanta Bility’s death, I think it’s appropriate to drop these charges at this time,”
Stifler was slammed by activists and civil rights lawyers last week for what they said was a disparity in how he treated a group of black teenagers and a Pennsylvania police officer who fired guns at people leaving a football game. The two teenagers could be in prison for the rest of their lives.
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On the day that the teen had a hearing in the case, there was a protest. That hearing was put on hold.
When Strand hurt one of the children who were shot, he agreed to plead guilty on Tuesday to aggravated assault and to having a gun without a license. In the district attorney’s office, they say that he will spend between 32 and 64 months in prison.
It says that the 16-year-old still faces charges for his “attempt to kill Strand,” which he did.
People who helped: Jo Ciavaglia, the Bucks Country Courier Times, and the Associated Press.