‘Bizarre’ actions preceded fatal shooting by state troopers, York County DA says
Skid marks showed where a crash occurred in August 2014 after which a man was shot by state police. (File photo, York Daily Record)
(York) — The York County District Attorney has ruled the state police shooting death of an apparently paranoid, delusional and suicidal man was “justifiable homicide,” according to a news release.
Wearing body armor, Joseph Penderghest III twice approached state troopers with a knife on Aug. 9, 2014, the second time after being shot and falling to the ground.
District Attorney Tom Kearney, in a statement released Thursday, wrote: “Accordingly, the troopers’ use of deadly force in response to Mr. Penderghest’s decision to charge the troopers’ bearing a raised knife, and then seek to do so a second time after being shot, was justified and no criminal action should be brought.
“The cause of death is determined to be multiple gunshot wounds to the body. The matter is now closed.”
In a bizarre tale, Penderghest, of Bethesda, Md., was driving with a friend and her year-old daughter from Manheim to his home around 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2014. The woman told police that Penderghest’s wife had left him two weeks earlier.
While driving through Hershey, his passenger, Amber Lynn Stalh, later told police, Penderghest began talking strangely, pointing to a building and identifying it as “CIA Headquarters.”
Stalh said Penderghest told her the CIA, FBI and other law enforcement agencies were spying on him.
Stalh said Penderghest then accused her of working for those agencies.
Coming up on a work zone on southbound Interstate 83, Stalh said Penderghest drove through traffic cones and into a closed lane. He then drove through more cones that closed off Exit 10 and stopped.
Stalh said Penderghest pulled a gun from his lap and pointed it at her while continuing to accuse her of spying on him.
Stalh said she pushed the gun away and it fired. She told police she reached into the back seat and got her daughter and ran from the car.
According to the DA’s news release, Penderghest continued on Exit 10 and made his way to the area of the 6800 block of Reynolds Mill Road in Springfield Township.
He crossed the double yellow line, off the eastern edge of the roadway, struck a large evergreen shrub and a utility pole before striking two parked cars in front of an apartment complex.
A resident of the apartments, James Fitzhugh, told police that he ran to help the driver, spotted a knife in his hand, called 911 and then backed away.
Two state troopers — William Colvin and William Wright — responded to the scene and found Penderghest, still seated in the car, attempting to slash his wrists with a knife.
Wright, who was finishing his second week as a trooper, reported that there was blood all over the inside of the car. He said Penderghest ignored Colvin’s orders to drop the knife and that both he and Colvin hit the man with pepper spray and Tasers.
Neither had any effect on Penderghest, according to the troopers. Wright said Penderghest continued to slash at his wrists, telling the troopers “Shoot me.”
Penderghest then got out of the passenger side of the car and approached the troopers with the knife. Wright said when Penderghest lunged at the him with the knife, he fired several shots. Colvin also reported that he fired at Penderghest.
Wright said Penderghest fell to the ground and said, “Thank you.”
As the troopers moved in on Penderghest, the man got back up and lunged again with the knife saying “Shoot me, kill me,” and several more shots were fired, according to a dash-cam video.
Meanwhile, because of the crash, Penderghest’s car had caught on fire. Troopers moved his body away from the car.
The investigation into the shooting later determined that Penderghest was wearing a body armor vest. At autopsy, it was determined that Penderghest had five “penetrating wounds.”
Penderghest also had cutting wounds to the chest, neck, right wrist, and left forearm and wrist and amphetamine was found in his system.
Found in Penderghest’s car were a loaded 9mm handgun, two more boxes of 9mm ammunition, a book on home workshop explosives, a book on how to make amphetamines, a publication on guerilla warfare and special forces operations, two knives and a pair of handcuffs.
Ensuing interviews with acquaintances of Penderghest’s established the man had been acting oddly in the days before his confrontation with police.
In the news release, Kearney said, “The conduct of the deceased leading up to the use of force can best be described as bizarre.
“As the date of death approached, the odd behavior intensified, culminating in his inexplicable decision to ignore construction barricades and accuse his companion at gunpoint of being part of the conspiracy, resulting in decedent firing a pistol, and his companion exiting the vehicle at her first opportunity.”
Kearney said the troopers were unaware of Penderghest’s mental state at the time.
“The restraint and professionalism exhibited by the officers in repeatedly requesting the deceased to lay down the knife as he requested to be shot and using the (pepper) spray and then the Tasers to keep him from harming himself was commendable,” Kearney stated in the release.
“The intent of the deceased to cause his own death was clearly evident when he uttered the words ‘thank you’ after being initially shot and then lunging again at the troopers,” Kearney said.
Contact Rick Lee at 717-495-1782.
This article comes to us through a partnership between York Daily Record and WITF.
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