Former Beaver County officer gets probation after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in bystander's death
Just as trial testimony was set to start Tuesday, 38-year-old John Hawk pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and related offenses for assaulting 48-year-old Kenneth Vinyard, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced.
Prosecutors said Vinyard was a bystander at a shooting scene outside the Walmart in Center Township on Nov. 6, 2022. When he walked up to police to provide potential evidence, prosecutors said Hawk, who was off-duty at the time, confronted Vinyard and pulled him away.
Shortly after, prosecutors said Hawk struck Vinyard in the chest and performed a leg-sweep maneuver, knocking Vinyard to the ground. Vinyard, who hit his head on the pavement, died at the hospital.
The medical examiner ruled that blunt force trauma and "accompanying stress inflicted by Hawk" contributed to his death, the attorney general's office said.
"This sworn officer's actions contributed to the death of a man who was not a threat to anyone at the scene of this shooting," Sunday said in a press release. "My team was fully prepared to try this case, but, after selecting a jury on Monday, we were informed the defendant wished to plead guilty."
The trial was scheduled to start on Tuesday, and prosecutors were ready to call up to 15 witnesses. In 2023, Vinyard's estate was awarded nearly $1 million to settle a lawsuit against Center Township and Hawk over his death. The assault was recorded on cell phone video.
Deborah Little, Vinyard's sister, told KDKA-TV it's been "absolute hell, torture" since her brother died. She said she thought Hawk should be in prison, saying "he took my brother's life without reason."
"Nothing that will happen this week will bring him back, and it won't take away the hurt and the tragedy it has done to our family," Little said. "But I promised him when he died that I would fight until I could fight no more, and that's what I intend to do."
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