GoFundMe goal exceeded to help wounded York Police officer Kyle Pitts
York City Police Officers Matthew Irvin, left, and Kyle Pitts walk an alley behind West Princess Street in York Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012. (Photo: File, York Daily Record)
The GoFundMe was set up to help Pitt’s family with things like food, meal preparation and home and lawn care.
(York) — Friends and co-workers of York City Police Officer Kyle Pitts — wounded during an ambush while serving a warrant in Harrisburg — have set up a GoFundMe account to help his family.
It has exceeded its goal of $5,000, garnering close to $9,000 by 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. The additional funds raised will be given to U.S. Marshal Christopher Hill’s family — at the request of the Pitts family.
Pitts, a 10-year-veteran of York City Police, along with Hill and Harrisburg Police Officer Jeffrey Cook, were fired upon by a man after they had handcuffed the female fugitive they had come to arrest.
Hill died from his injuries, Cook’s ballistic vest saved him from injury and Pitts was struck by a bullet in his right elbow. As of Tuesday, he remained at Hershey Medical Center, according to York City Police Detective First Class Andy Shaffer.
“It’s going to be a long period of recovery (with) possible additional surgeries,” Shaffer said.
The GoFundMe was set up to alleviate the burden of paying for things such as food, meal preparation and home and lawn care as Pitts and his family focus on his rehabilitation, he said.
“There were a lot of people, and not just cops, asking what can they do for Pitts and his family,” Shaffer said.
Shaffer, who works for the York County Drug Task Force, said his group shared an office in York with Pitts, who, although a York City Police officer, worked full-time with the U.S. Marshals Service.
“I worked together with him for a long time,” Shaffer said of Pitts. “When you work with the same guys, 8, 10, 12 hours a day … you get to know a person pretty good. He’s a hunter and fisherman, like I am, and a family man.”
As of Tuesday, $2,905 of the $5,000 goal had been donated. The account states that any additional money donated over the requested goal will be given to Hill’s family.
Numerous donors also left comments on the account, wishing Pitts a speedy recovery and extending blessings to his family.
This 2012 video follows York City police officer Kyle Pitts as he conducts community police efforts. Pitts was wounded in a shooting in Harrisburg Jan. 18, 2018. Paul Kuehnel, York Daily Record
This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The York Daily Record.
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