Former Beaver County officer gets probation after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in bystander's death
A former Beaver County police officer was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a bystander at a shooting scene.
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.
Victim's family reacts to guilty plea
Deborah Little, Vinyard's sister, told KDKA-TV on Monday that it's been "absolute hell, torture" since her brother died. She said before the trial that she thought Hawk should be in prison, saying he "took my brother's life without reason."
Little and Marcy Beatty, Vinyard's fiancee, said on Tuesday that it was not the outcome they wanted, but they are pushing on.
"This has been a hard, hard fight," Little said. "I just hope that he is proud of what we did for him."
The two read their victim impact statements in court.
"I said a lot of things that were meant to hurt him, to make him realize what he had done to our family," Little said. "And I said, 'I will never forgive you for this, never.' And he genuinely had tears in his eyes, and you could tell that he was listening."
They both said they got some solace, feeling that Hawk was contrite.
"He said, 'I am so sorry, I truly am. I couldn't tell you guys I was sorry until this point.' He said, 'I cry myself to sleep every night.' He said, 'I relive it all the time.' He said, 'I never meant to kill him,'" Beatty said.
Family was everything for Vinyard. He loved being a girl dad to his daughter, Crimson, who is named after his favorite team — the Alabama Crimson Tide.
He adored his Beatty and shared a tight bond with his sister. They called him the life of the party, and now all they have are photos and precious memories.
"It's been three years of back and forth with this," Little said. "And the stress and the pain it's put on our family, I can't even describe."
