Coroner: Mt. Pleasant officer criminally liable in fatal shooting
The Washington County coroner said Thursday that a Mt. Pleasant Township police officer should be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a man who led police on a chase earlier this year.
Officer Tyler Evans fired the shots that killed Eduardo Lee Hoover Jr., 38, of Coraopolis on April 2. At the time, Hoover’s truck was boxed in by police vehicles, with Evans’ vehicle behind the truck.
“The best evidence of what occurred, which is Officer Evans’s bodycam video, depicts Officer Evans putting his vehicle into park, at which time the car is struck from a distance of about three to five yards (by Hoover’s truck). Evans then shouts an expletive, gets out of the vehicle, and immediately fires two rounds through the rear window of the truck, fatally shooting Hoover,” Coroner Tim Warco wrote in a report issued Thursday.
Warco’s findings that Evans should be held criminally liable in Hoover’s death are in contrast to those of District Attorney Jason Walsh, who ruled the shooting justified in May, noting, “officers were left with no alternative.”
Evans, Mt. Pleasant Police Chief Matthew Tharp and officer Crystal Metalik, along with Smith Township Police Chief Bernie LaRue and Officer Michael Pasquale, were all subpoenaed to testify at the inquest, held Tuesday. At the request of a lawyer representing the officers, a judge quashed the subpoena and none appeared. Instead, Warco and Timothy Uhrich, the solicitor for the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association, relied on the state police investigation of the shooting, conducted by Cpl. Daniel Eddy, as well as dash and body camera videos from police who were involved in the 20-minute pursuit of Hoover from Burgettstown to the 1100 block of Jefferson Avenue in Washington.
While Eddy was also subpoenaed to appear, he also did not attend the inquest.
According to Warco’s report, the chase stopped on Jefferson Avenue after four township police cars and a county sheriff vehicle boxed in Hoover’s truck, leaving him little room to maneuver.
Pasquale was stationed directly in front of Hoover.
“Officer Pasquale exited his vehicle and shouted a verbal command for Hoover to exit his vehicle. According to Pasquale, Hoover looked directly at him and then backed up his truck, striking the vehicle in which Officer Evans had yet to exit,” Warco said Thursday, reading directly from his written report. “At that point, Officer Pasquale fired two rounds into the front grill of the truck, attempting to disable it. For the purposes of this proceeding, it is important to note that Officer Pasquale, despite being out of his vehicle and directly in front of the truck, and looking directly at Hoover, chose not to use lethal force in an effort to stop the threat.”
After striking Evans’ vehicle, Hoover can be seen pulling forward and immediately striking a utility pole. Evans fired two shots through the rear window, which struck Hoover in the head and neck.
Warco faulted Evans for taking the shots despite Pasquale being positioned in front of Hoover’s pick-up truck.
“In his statement to investigators, Officer Evans stated that he had given consideration to the fact that an officer or officers were in front of the truck, but he felt that the rounds he fired would not pass through the truck and would not endanger anyone else on the scene,” Warco wrote in the report.
The coroner found there were discrepancies between what Evans told Eddy and what appears in the footage.
Evans claimed he exited the vehicle after the initial impact, and before Hoover hit the utility pole. But his body camera shows him getting out after Hoover hits the pole and firing the shots.
Warco’s report emphasized that Pasquale did not find it necessary to use deadly force despite being in more danger than Evans.
“In contrast, Officer Evans was in his vehicle at the time the vehicle was struck from a distance of three to five yards. Yet, he chose to exit the vehicle and immediately fire two rounds directly into the rear window of the truck, and with complete disregard to the safety of Officer Pasquale or other officers who may have been directly in the line of fire,” Warco wrote.
Lori Cook, Hoover’s aunt, was present Thursday and became emotional as Warco said he believed Evans should be charged in her nephew’s death.
“I just felt it was unjustified the way he was killed. I’m just glad what came of this today,” Cook said.
Cook said she hopes Evans will be removed from the police force, but does not think it is necessary he serves jail time.
“Not to jail. Just off the force. He shouldn’t be allowed to have the power anymore,” Cook said.
Tharp, Mt. Pleasant’s police chief, did not respond to a phone call seeking comment on the ruling and it was not immediately clear if Evans remains on the township’s police force. Walsh said he intends to hold a press conference about Warco’s findings Friday at 11:30 a.m.
If Walsh declines to file charges, Warco said the state attorney general’s office should petition Washington County Common Pleas Court to supersede Walsh and charge Evans.
Hoover’s father, Eduardo Hoover Sr., testified during the inquest on Tuesday, blaming police for escalating the situation.
He described his son as a, “great family man,” and said in recent years he struggled heavily with alcoholism and mental health issues. Warco’s report noted that toxicology reports showed Hoover Jr.’s blood-alcohol content was .279%.
On Tuesday, Hoover Sr. said he’d be thankful to have his son alive, even if he were arrested and imprisoned as a result of the chase.
“I wish I could still speak with him,” Hoover Sr. said.