
Police officer who killed bystander after Pennsylvania shooting sentenced to probation
John J Hawk, 38, received the sentence on Tuesday after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the November 2022 attack outside a Walmart that led to the death of Kenneth Vinyard, 48. Hawk also pleaded guilty to assault and reckless endangerment.
At the sentencing, Vinyard's family described him as the family glue, according to Pennsylvania attorney general, Dave Sunday.
'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 statement.
Hawk, an officer in Center Township, was in civilian clothing when he confronted Vinyard as the victim spoke to police, Sunday said. Vinyard died upon arrival at a hospital.
Hawk apologized to the victim's family at his sentencing. His lawyer, Stephen Colafella, said his client had been 'grappling with' Vinyard's death before deciding to enter a plea. 'I think a lot of people got closure today,' Colafella said on Tuesday evening, noting that Hawk and the victim's fiancee embraced in court.
Colafella said Hawk was no longer on the Center Township police force. The Pennsylvania news station WPXI reported that Vinyard's family settled a lawsuit against Center Township and Hawk for nearly $1m.
'I hope that he can move on and have a good life with his family,' Vinyard's fiancee, Marcy Beatty, told WTAE-TV. 'Ours is broken, and it will take a long time for that to heal.'
One person suffered a gunshot wound in the 6 November 2022 shooting at Walmart for which Vinyard was trying to provide information to police, authorities said at the time.
At the time Vinyard was mortally injured, he had approached an officer about potential evidence. Hawk, who was neither working nor in uniform, pulled Vinyard away from the officer, Sunday's office said.
Hawk then struck Vinyard in the chest and performed a leg-sweep maneuver that caused Vinyard to fall and strike his head on the ground.
Sign up to Headlines US
Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning
after newsletter promotion
Vinyard later died at a local hospital. Authorities said Vinyard's death result from blunt force trauma and stress inflicted on him by Hawk.
Hawk's trial in Vinyard's death was supposed to start on Tuesday when he instead pleaded guilty.
Sunday's office said the sentence that Hawk received was at the discretion of state judge Richard Mancini, and there was no agreement as to the punishment between prosecutors and the defendant.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
9 minutes ago
- The Independent
Manhunt for inmate ‘mistakenly' released from New Orleans jail where 10 previously escaped
Authorities in New Orleans are searching for a man with a "violent criminal history," who was 'mistakenly released' from a jail where 10 inmates escaped earlier this year. Khalil Bryan, 30, was released from the Orleans Parish Jail on Friday in what authorities refer to as "human error," after he was confused with another inmate with a 'similar last name', according to Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson. 'I want to make a sincere apology to the people of New Orleans. The mistaken release of Khalil Bryan was a serious error, and as sheriff, I take full responsibility,' Hutson told reporters at a press conference. It comes just over two months after the escape of 10 inmates from the same jail on May 16. While eight were recaptured relatively quickly by authorities, one evaded police until June, and the final inmate remains at large. On Friday, Superintendent Ann Kirkpatrick of the New Orleans Police Department, addressed Bryan directly, telling him that he was 'a fugitive.' 'Even though it was a mistaken release from custody, you are on notice. You are a fugitive,' Kirkpatrick said. 'I'm going to ask that you turn yourself in. 'You and others who may be harboring him at this moment will be subject to prosecution yourself, because you are on notice. Mr Bryan is a fugitive at this point.' Explaining how Bryan's release was possible, Hutson explained the mishap stemmed 'from a clerical misidentification where he was confused with another individual sharing a similar last name.' 'While our systems are designed to catch these discrepancies, human error led to a breakdown in the verification process,' she said. Hutson added that an internal investigation had been launched and the Parish Sheriff's Office was working with all relevant partners to locate Bryan. 'I want the public to know this should not have happened,' she said. 'It was a failure of internal processes, and the public has every right to expect better.' Hutson added that disciplinary action would be 'forthcoming.' Prior to his mistaken release, Bryan was being held on charges including possession of stolen property, drug paraphernalia and resisting an officer. He has an active warrant for aggravated assault with a firearm, domestic abuse, child endangerment and home invasion, as well as a "violent criminal history," including aggravated burglary, aggravated assault with a weapon and aggravated criminal damage to property, Kirkpatrick said. Anyone with information about Bryan's whereabouts are urged to call police and authorities warn he should not be approached.


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Immigration agents told a teenage US citizen: ‘You've got no rights.' He secretly recorded his brutal arrest
On the morning of 2 May, teenager Kenny Laynez-Ambrosio was driving to his landscaping job in North Palm Beach with his mother and two male friends when they were pulled over by the Florida highway patrol. In one swift moment, a traffic stop turned into a violent arrest. A highway patrol officer asked everyone in the van to identify themselves, then called for backup. Officers with US border patrol arrived on the scene. Video footage of the incident captured by Laynez-Ambrosio, an 18-year-old US citizen, appears to show a group of officers in tactical gear working together to violently detain the three men*, two of whom are undocumented. They appear to use a stun gun on one man, put another in a chokehold and can be heard telling Laynez-Ambrosio: 'You've got no rights here. You're a migo, brother.' Afterward, agents can be heard bragging and making light of the arrests, calling the stun gun use 'funny' and quipping: 'You can smell that … $30,000 bonus.' The footage has put fresh scrutiny on the harsh tactics used by US law enforcement officials as the Trump administration sets ambitious enforcement targets to detain thousands of immigrants every day. 'The federal government has imposed quotas for the arrest of immigrants,' said Jack Scarola, an attorney who is advocating on behalf of Laynez-Ambrosio and working with the non-profit Guatemalan-Maya Center, which provided the footage to the Guardian. 'Any time law enforcement is compelled to work towards a quota, it poses a significant risk to other rights.' The incident unfolded at roughly 9am, when a highway patrol officer pulled over the company work van, driven by Laynez-Ambrosio's mother, and discovered that she had a suspended license. Laynez-Ambrosio said he is unsure why the van was pulled over, as his mother was driving below the speed limit. Laynez-Ambrosio hadn't intended to film the interaction – he already had his phone out to show his mom 'a silly TikTok', he said – but immediately clicked record when it became clear what was happening. The video begins after the van has been pulled over and the border patrol had arrived. A female officer can be heard asking, in Spanish, whether anyone is in the country illegally. One of Laynez-Ambrosio's friends answers that he is undocumented. 'That's when they said, 'OK, let's go,'' Laynez-Ambrosio recalled. Laynez-Ambrosio said things turned aggressive before the group even had a chance to exit the van. One of the officers 'put his hand inside the window', he said, 'popped the door open, grabbed my friend by the neck and had him in a chokehold'. Footage appears to show officers then reaching for Laynez-Ambrosio and his other friend as Laynez-Ambrosio can be heard protesting: 'You can't grab me like that.' Multiple officers can be seen pulling the other man from the van and telling him to 'put your fucking head down'. The footage captures the sound of a stun gun as Laynez-Ambrosio's friend cries out in pain and drops to the ground. Laynez-Ambrosio said that his friend was not resisting, and that he didn't speak English and didn't understand the officer's commands. 'My friend didn't do anything before they grabbed him,' he said. In the video, Laynez-Ambrosio can be heard repeatedly telling his friend, in Spanish, to not resist. 'I wasn't really worried about myself because I knew I was going to get out of the situation,' he said. 'But I was worried about him. I could speak up for him but not fight back, because I would've made the situation worse.' Laynez-Ambrosio can also be heard telling officers: 'I was born and raised right here.' Still, he was pushed to the ground and says that an officer aimed a stun gun at him. He was subsequently arrested and held in a cell at a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) station for six hours. Audio in the video catches the unidentified officers debriefing and appearing to make light of the stun gun use. 'You're funny, bro,' one officer can be overheard saying to another, followed by laughter. Another officer says, 'They're starting to resist more now,' to which an officer replies: 'We're going to end up shooting some of them.' Later in the footage, the officers move on to general celebration – 'Goddamn! Woo! Nice!' – and talk of the potential bonus they'll be getting: 'Just remember, you can smell that [inaudible] $30,000 bonus.' It is unclear what bonus they are referring to. Donald Trump's recent spending bill includes billions of additional dollars for Ice that could be spent on recruitment and retention tactics such as bonuses. Laynez-Ambrosio said his two friends were eventually transferred to the Krome detention center in Miami. He believes they were released on bail and are awaiting a court hearing, but said it has been difficult to stay in touch with them. Laynez-Ambrosio's notice to appear in court confirms that the border patrol arrived on the scene, having been called in by the highway patrol. His other legal representative, Victoria Mesa-Estrada, also confirmed that border patrol officers transported the three men to the border patrol facility. The Florida highway patrol, CBP, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to requests for comment before publication. Laynez-Ambrosio was charged with obstruction without violence and sentenced to 10 hours of community service and a four-hour anger management course. While in detention, he said, police threatened him with charges if he did not delete the video footage from his phone, but he refused. Scarola, his lawyer, said the charges were retaliation for filming the incident. 'Kenny was charged with filming [and was] alleged to have interfered with the activities of law enforcement,' he explained. 'But there was no intended interference – merely the exercise of a right to record what was happening.' In February, Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, signed an agreement between the state and the Department of Homeland Security allowing Florida highway patrol troopers to be trained and approved by Ice to arrest and detain immigrants. While such agreements have been inked across the US, Florida has the largest concentration of these deals. Father Frank O'Loughlin, founder and executive director of the Guatemalan-Maya Center, the advocates for Laynez-Ambrosio, says the incident has further eroded trust between Florida's immigrant community and the police. 'This is a story about the corruption of law enforcement by Maga and the brutality of state and federal troopers – formerly public servants – towards nonviolent people,' he said. Meanwhile, Laynez-Ambrosio is trying to recover from the ordeal, and hopes the footage raises awareness of how immigrants are being treated in the US. 'It didn't need to go down like that. If they knew that my people were undocumented, they could've just kindly taken them out of the car and arrested them,' he said. 'It hurt me bad to see my friends like that. Because they're just good people, trying to earn an honest living.' The Guardian is granting anonymity to Laynez-Ambrosio's mother and the men arrested in the footage to protect their privacy


Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Two Southwest flight attendants injured after jet dives to avoid collision
WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) - Two flight attendants on a Southwest Airlines (LUV.N), opens new tab flight departing Burbank, California, were injured on Friday after pilots took evasive action to dodge another aircraft on takeoff, the airline said. Southwest Flight 1496 sharply descended nearly 500 feet, according to flight tracking websites, marking the second time in a week that a U.S. commercial jet was forced to make abrupt flight maneuvers to avoid a potential mid-air collision. The airline and the Federal Aviation Administration said the Southwest pilots took action after receiving cockpit alerts of other aircraft traffic being dangerously close. The Southwest Boeing 737 continued on to Las Vegas, where it landed uneventfully. The aircraft that the Southwest flight avoided was not immediately identified. The FAA was investigating. Two flight attendants were treated for injuries, the airline said, without providing detail. No injuries were immediately reported by passengers, according to Southwest. But one passenger told Fox News Digital the sharp descent stirred panic onboard. "It was terrifying. We really thought we were plummeting to a plane crash," Caitlin Burdi said in an on-camera interview. After the incident, "the pilot came on (the intercom), and he told us we almost collided with another plane." According to a statement from Southwest, the incident began when its crew responded to "two onboard traffic alerts" while taking off from the Hollywood Burbank Airport north of Los Angeles, "requiring them to climb and descend to comply with the alerts." In a separate incident one week ago, a SkyWest Airlines (SKYW.O), opens new tab jet operating as a Delta Connection (DAL.N), opens new tab flight from Minneapolis reported taking evasive action to avoid a possible collision with a U.S. Air Force bomber during a landing approach over North Dakota on July 18. The FAA said on Monday it was investigating last Friday's near-miss incident involving SkyWest Flight 3788, an Embraer ( opens new tab ERJ-175 regional jet, which landed safely at Minot, North Dakota. The Air Force confirmed a B-52 jet bomber assigned to Minot Air Force Base had conducted a ceremonial flyover of the North Dakota State Fair last Friday around the time of the SkyWest incident. The Air Force said the bomber cockpit crew was in contact with local air traffic control before, during and after the flyover, and that the Minot International Airport control tower "did not advise of the inbound commercial aircraft" as the B-52 was departing the area. The incident remains under FAA investigation, the Air Force said.