Posted on 08/22/2003 3:37:32 AM PDT by Born Conservative
MOCANAQUA — State police shot and killed a man who was swinging a garden rake at them while his horrified wife or girlfriend and neighbors watched, witnesses said.
Life Flight was called to help the man neighbors identified as Edward Vega, of 121 Italy St., after he was shot in the chest around 6 p.m. But the Life Flight doctor declared him dead, and the helicopter took off without him, said Dr. George Hudock Jr., county coroner.
A pool of blood and the garden rake remained in the middle of the road. State police strung crime-scene tape to block the street. A forensics team arrived on the scene, and a trooper began interviewing neighbors. The road was still closed off at 9:30 p.m.
It's unclear how the incident began. Channel 28 reported that state police said Vega and a woman who lived in the house with him had been fighting. The woman reportedly called police and said Vega was violating a protection from abuse order.
Neighbors, who said they feared to give their names or get involved, said they came out of their homes to see the man they knew as Ed in the roadway swinging tree branches at two state troopers.
They said Ed backed away toward his detached garage, where he dropped the branches, grabbed the metal rake and began swinging that at the officers.
That's when one trooper, about three steps away from the raging man, fired the shot, the neighbors said.
The man's wife or girlfriend ran into the street, crying and covering him with kisses, they said.
Neighbors recall friendly man
Neighbors said the couple had four children, with a fifth on the way.
Some neighbors said they had seen police cars at the house before.
But several said they were shocked by the shooting.
One weeping woman was gently escorted away by a trooper. Other stunned neighbors watched the troopers from their porches or the sidewalk.
Johnny Cielli, 81, of 102 Italy St., said the man he knew only as Ed and his family had moved into the neat white house with red trim just a few months ago.
Ed was a small man, weighing only 130 to 140 pounds, he said. Cielli used to walk by his house every day.
"I'd see him, and he'd always say 'Hi,'" Cielli said. "He had a little dog, and he'd tell me, 'Don't worry about the dog. He won't bite you.'"
Annette Knorowski, 56, of 126 Pond Hill Road, stared when she saw the police tape and heard what had happened.
"Oh my God, he was such a nice guy," she said.
She said she baby-sat two children in a house just down the street from Ed's home.
She would walk by his house while she took the youngest girl out in her carriage.
Ed always smiled and talked to her, she said.
Sometimes, he would walk with her on his way to do gardening work around the town.
"He told me it was a nice town, that everyone kept the street so nice and clean, that the people were so friendly," she said.
He was always busy, doing yard work for people, she said.
Another time, he stopped by the house where she worked and dropped off some flyers advertising a new house cleaning service he and his wife were offering, he said.
"He was a hard worker," she said. "He was always going someplace to do something for somebody.
"If he just had a rake, they shouldn't have shot him," she said.
State troopers said they would not release a statement about the shooting until their investigation was completed.
Hudock said he would be conducting an autopsy this morning at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.
You know you're having a bad day when Life Flight comes to pick you up and then leaves without you...
Am I missing something in this whole story?
On the other hand, maybe the guy was just a real scumbag and deserved to die. I sometimes wonder if cops, in certain situations, simply become judge jury& executioner....and nobody knows the difference.
Really??? So if your neighbor comes over and 'threatens you with a rake' you can just blow 'em away?
You'd be brought up on charges in a heartbeat.
"That's when one trooper, about three steps away from the raging man, fired the shot, the neighbors said."
You're right...you can't expect a cop shooting from 3 feet away to hit a leg.
The cop is indeed fortunate that he was able to hit the guy at all from that distance.
should be 3 steps away...maybe 9 feet.
Still a pretty far distance for a cop to make an accurate shot.
There is just not enough information here to draw a judgement. We aren't told the size of the rake, whether the officer was hit with it, how long and how many the tines were, etc. A rake could make a pretty effective stick weapon, though it seems unlikely. I suspect the guy was drunk, or maybe it was suicide by cop. Once men get into the whole "domestic violence" system, their options get dramaticly reduced, they tend to be assumed guilty, and many become suicidal after loosing everything.
The man's wife or girlfriend..
The reporter sure missed something. I can't believe the editor let this go.
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