Philly Off Hook In Drunken Slaying By Off-Duty Cop
The family of a man fatally shot by a drunken, off-duty Philadelphia police officer has been awarded $4.7 million from the shooter, but may get nothing since a jury let the city off the hook.
Watch CBS News
The family of a man fatally shot by a drunken, off-duty Philadelphia police officer has been awarded $4.7 million from the shooter, but may get nothing since a jury let the city off the hook.
The jury found the City of Philadelphia not financially liable for the murder of William Panas Jr. by Frank Tepper, an off-duty cop with a history of misconduct.
The jury, now deliberating, must decide if Frank Tepper went on duty when he left his house to address a nearby confrontation, and whether the city's failure to fire him after earlier incidents of misconduct caused the murder.
Two witnesses have testified about a 1995 incident in which Officer Frank Tepper allegedly attacked them because they spoke with his wife on the street.
Frank Tepper's arms were folded in front of him as the sister, mother, and then father of 21-year-old victim William Panas Jr. each took the stand to read impact statements, expressing their great loss.
Top city attorneys are now trying to figure out if a former Philadelphia police officer convicted last week of murder should be allowed to keep his pension.
Former Philadelphia police officer Frank Tepper has been convicted of the first-degree murder of a Port Richmond neighbor during a curbside melée on a summer evening in 2009.
Jury deliberations were expected to begin Tuesday afternoon in the case of former Philadelphia police officer Frank Tepper, who shot and killed a 21-year-old neighbor during a confrontation in Port Richmond in 2009.
Felicia Tepper, 19, today told the jury that her father, Frank Tepper, an off-duty Philadelphia police officer, had tried to be a peacemaker during a confrontation outside their home.
There's been heartbreaking testimony in the trial of a former Philadelphia police officer charged with murdering a young man during a Port Richmond neighborhood fight in 2009.
