Excessive force alleged in fatal shooting by Reading police

On Feb. 3, 2018, the decedent resided with a roommate and the roommate’s girlfriend in an apartment in Reading. The decedent and his roommate had an argument that caused the girlfriend to call the police.

When the police arrived, the decedent was alone in the apartment. He was afraid of the police, so he barricaded himself. Later, while the police were outside the front of the building, he fled through a rear window of the apartment.

The defendant officer then arrived at the scene with more Reading police officers and began searching for the decedent, who was hiding bent over in the passenger seat of a Hummer that was parked near the building. When the defendant saw the decedent in the Hummer, without waiting for backup, he approached the Hummer, opened the door, drew his firearm, and ordered the decedent to exit the car.

The defendant claimed that he thought the decedent was armed and would harm him because he would not comply with the defendant’s demand to remove his hands from the front pocket of his sweatshirt.

Once out of the Hummer, the decedent charged toward the defendant. In response, the defendant claims he shot the decedent twice in the chest.

When the decedent’s brother heard the gunshots, he ran toward the Hummer and saw his brother kneeling near the front door with his arms spread to his side, motionless and lifeless. The decedent died from the gunshots.

After the shooting, the Reading police searched the area and did not find any weapons on or near the decedent or the Hummer. The State Police investigated the shooting but did not perform a shooting reconstruction or analysis of the trajectory of the bullets.

Later, the estate retained an expert who took certain measurements and photographs at the scene. In addition, the estate retained another expert who reconstructed the shooting and calculated the trajectories of the two bullets shot into the decedent by analyzing the measurements and photographs as well as the bullet impacts in the open Hummer door.

The shooting reconstructionist also analyzed other evidence of the shooting collected by the State Police and concluded that, just before the shooting, the decedent was too low to the ground to be charging at the officer.

Action: Civil rights
Injuries alleged: Death, emotional distress
Case name: Estate of Alan Greenough, et al. v. Drauschke, et al.
Court/case no.: U.S. District Court/No. 1:21-cv-10147-IT
Jury and/or judge: N/A (mediated)
Name of mediator: Judge M. Page Kelley
Amount: $1 million
Most helpful expert: Jonathyn Priest, partner, Bevel, Gardner & Associates, Denver
Date: Dec. 31, 2024
Attorneys: Victor Koufman, William Saltzman and Maxwell Kraynak, of The Koufman Law Group, Boston (for the plaintiffs)