JAMES B.

MARTIN
Districl Attorney

OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY

LEHIGH COUNTY COURTHOUSE
455 WEST HAMILTON STREET
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA 18101-1614
PHONE (6i0) 782-3100 FAx (610) 820-3323

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: James B. Martin

August 7,2018 (610)782-3100

DISTRICT ATTORNEY JIM MARTIN

ANNOUNCES DECISION IN
SOUTH WHITEHALL TOWNSHIP
OFFI CER-II..{VOLVED SHOOTING

On Saturday, July 28, 2018, at approximately 5:44 p.m. a South Whitehall

Township police officer responded to an area in the northbound lanes of Hamiiton

Boulevard (Rt. 222\ near the Comfort Suites Hotel. The officer had been

controlling/monitoring traffic at the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Hamilton

Boulevard, about one and a half blocks south of this incident.

The officer had his marked vehicle parked on the median dividing the north

and southbound lanes of Hamilton Boulevard. A woman operating a vehicle pulled

alongside his passenger side door and reported (in what I describe based on video as

an "hysterical" or "frantic" manner) that a man had approached and tried to enter

her vehicle while she was driving along Hamilton Boulevard north of the officer's

location.

The officer made a U-turn and proceeded north until he encountered a man

on the east berm of Hamilton Boulevard. The man was bleeding. He banged on the
officer's driver's side window; mounted the hood of the police vehicle and banged on

the windshield; and, when he removed himself from the hood of the vehicle, wenr ro

the passenger side, and banged on that window.

The officer radioed Lehigh County Comm. Center to report the incident in

progress and with his duty weapon unholstered and while pointing it at the man,
issued repeated verbal commands to him from within the vehicle to get away from

his vehicle, or to get off his vehicle. He had also indicated to the comm center that

the man might have mental issues and that he needed backup and would await

their arrival. The man walked away from the passenger side of the officer's vehicle

in a southbound direction, toward Lincoln Avenue, on the east berm. He walked a

short distance south (estimated by the offrcer at less than 100'), and then reversed

course and walked back toward the marked vehicle. By that time the officer had

alighted from the vehicle and was issuing repeated verbal commands to the man to

"get down on the ground." The man did not comply but continued to walk toward

the officer. As the man drew nearer, the officer discharged his duty weapon five

times.

The officer radioed "shots fired" and requested an ambulance. His backup

arrived and CPR was begun. The man was transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital,

Cedar Crest, where he was pronounced dead. Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim

has ruled the cause ofdeath to have been "multiple gunshot wounds" and the

manner to have been homicide ("death at the hands of another").

I received a call from Chief GIen Dorney of the South Whitehall Township

Police Department shortly after this incident occurred. At that time Chief Dorney
and I discussed the investigation; and he was in agreement with my suggestion that

we request the assistance ofthe Pennsylvania state police and the Lehigh county

Homicide Task Force to conduct the investigation into this officer-involved shooting.

The deceased has since been identified as Joseph santos, of 64 Hoehn street,

Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Mr. santos was born May 2b,1974, ancl was 44

years of age.

I offer my sincere condolences to the family of Mr. Santos.

The South Whitehall Township police officer who fired upon Mr. Santos is

Officer Jonathan R. Roselle, whose date of birth is April 12, 198b.

At this time, I am announcing that officer Roselle has been charged with the

crime of voluntary Manslaughter as a result of his shooting and killing Mr. santos.

Under the law, " tAl person who kills an individual without lawful

justifrcation, commits Voluntary Manslaughter, if at the time of the killing, he rs

acting under a sudden and intense passion resulting from serious provocation by: (i)

the individual killed; or ..."

"@.)...if at the time of the killing, he believes the circumstances to be such

that ifthey existed, would justifr the killing .,. but his belief is unreasonable."

18 Pa.C.S.A. $2503.

Voluntary Manslaughter is a felony ofthe first degree for which a person, if

convicted, may be sentenced to a maximum statutory term of imprisonment of not

more than twenty years. If there is a finding of guilt, the sentencing judge would

also have to consider Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines in the imposition of

sentence.
 In this case, the Commonwealth will have the burden of proving three

elements:

First, that Joseph santos is dead; second, that Jonathan R. Roselle killed

him; and, third, that Roselle had the intent to kill.

Because ofthe intense public interest in this matter, I am going to explarn

the law in greater detail than I normaliy would at a press conference.

Section 508 ofthe Pennsyivania Crimes Code governs use of force in law

enforcement. In pertinent part, it provides as follows:

"(1) A peace officer,,.need not retreat or desist from efforts to make a Iawful

arrest because of resistance or threatened resistance to the arrest. He is justified in

the use of any force which he believes to be necessary to effect the arrest and of any

force which he believes to be necessary to defend himself or another from bodily

harm while making the arrest. However, he is justified in using deadly force
only when he believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or

serious bodily injury to himself or such other person, or when he believes

both that: (i) such force is necessary to prevent the arrest from being

defeated by resistance or escape; and (ii) the person to be arrested has

committed or attempted a forcible felony or is attempting to escape and

possesses a deadly weapon or otherwise indicates that he will endanger

human life or inflict serious bodily injury unless arrested without delay."

In this case, there is no evidence that Mr, Santos was armed with any
weapon and no evidence that he had committed or attempted a forcible

felony.
 I have approved the charge ofVoluntary Manslaughter, rather than Murder

of the third degree, because Murder requires malice. Although malice may be

inferred from the use of a deadly weapon on a vital part of the human body, there

can be no malice when certain reducing circumstances are present, When

those circumstances are present, a killing may be Voluntary Manslaughter

but never Murder. This is true when a defendant kills either in the heat of
passion following serious provocation or kills under an unreasonable mistaken
belief in justifying circumstances.

Pennsylvania case law has addressed the issue of "reasonable belief' that

deadly force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury, as follows:

In Commonwealth v. Smith, 97 ABd, 782 (Pa. Super. 2014), the Court held

that the requirement that the defendant have a reasonable belief that he is in

imminent danger, as the basis for a claim of self-defense, encompasses two aspects,

one subjective and one objective. First, the defendant must have acted out ofan

honest, bona fide belief that he was in imminent danger, which involves

consideration ofthe defendant's subjective state of mind; and second, the

defendant's belief that he needed to defend himself with deadly force, if it existed,

must be reasonable in light ofthe facts as they appear to the defendant, a

consideration that involves an objective analysis. See also: Commonwealth v.

Mouzon, 53 A3d, 738,752 (Pa.2012) and Commonwealth v. Light, 326 A2d,288 (Pa.

r974).

Applying the foregoing to the facts ofthis case, I am satisfied that

subjectively Officer Roselle acted out of an honest, bona fide belief that he was in
some imminent danger; however, an objective analysis ofthe facts does not

establish that officer Roselle's belief that he needed to defend himself with

deadly force was reasonable, And, hence it was not justified.

Officer Roselle was at first approached by a very upset woman, who may

perhaps even be described as "frantic" or "hysterical," reporting that a man had

confronted her while she was operating her vehicle along Hamilton Boulevard and

tried to get in her car. A man who was located further north on Hamilton

Boulevard also pointed out an individual to the officer. The officer then saw the

man (Iater identified as Mr. Santos) who he believed met the description of the man

whom the woman had reported, and the other man had pointed out.

(During the course of the investigation interviews were conducted with

eleven people who either had some interaction with Mr. Santos, or observed his

interaction with other vehicles on Hamilton Boulevard orior to the encounter with

Officer Roselle.)

When Officer Roselle encountered Mr. Santos, he pounded on the driver's side

ofthe police vehicle; mounted the hood ofthe police vehicle; and pounded on the

windshield so hard that the dashcam camera was dislodged; and, then he pounded

on the passenger side ofthe offrcer's vehicle. Clearly, given those facts, the officer's

subjective state of mind could reasonably have been that Mr. Santos was a

danger to himself or others and that he (RoseIIe) might have been be in danger of

some injury through acts of Santos.

However, Mr. Santos then walked away from the police vehicle; and when he

reversed his course and came towards Officer Roselle, he was walkine. He was not
A
running or rushing toward the officer. He did not have anything visible in his

hands; he was not clenching his fists; he did not present a threatening posture. He

was plainly not armed with any type ofweapon, and he is heard on video saying to
Officer Roselle who has his weapon unholstered and pointing at him, ,,Don,t do it.,,

While it is true that Mr. Santos failed to comply with the officer's legitimate

commands to get down on the ground, there is no objective showing that Officer

Roselle was in danger of imminent serious bodily injury or death. Further, Mr.
Santos had not to the officer's knowledge attempted a forcible felony nor was he

attempting to escape while in possession of a deadly weapon. He had no weapon.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, as set forth in the affidavit of

probable cause, Officer Roselle stated to the first responding officer that he thought

he "fucked up" and he "didn't know what to do" because (Santos) kept coming at

him. He also told his shift supervisor at the scene that he thought he "fucked up"

and said the same once more while still at the scene-

Although not necessary to the making of an objective decision, Officer Roselle

had the option to engage Mr. Santos physically; and in addition to his frrearm, he

was also equipped with an ASP expandable baton, OC (pepper) spray, and a Taser.

(During the course of this investigation, those items were examined and found to be

functional.)

Offrcer Roselle surrendered earlier this afternoon. He is represented by

Attorneys Emanuel Kapelsohn and Gavin Holihan, both of Allentown. The officer

was interviewed by investigators on Wednesday, August 1, in the presence ofhrs

attornevs.
 Officer Roselle will be preliminary arraigned from Central Booking. A

Magisterial District Judge is not permitted to set bail where the charge is voluntary

Manslaughter. However, the commonwealth will not object to reasonable RoR

bail, inasmuch as officer Roselle is not considered to be a flight risk. He will be

supervised by Pretrial services, and a Judge of the court of common pleas will set

bail and any appropriate conditions.

This case has understandably received a great deal of media attention and

public interest. To those who believe or contend that the death of Mr. Santos was

either che result of police brutality or thar racism was involved, the investigation

has disclosed no facts which would support such claims.

In my opinion, this was the act of a relatively inexperienced offrcer who held

a subjective fear for his own safety; but, made a decision which objectively was

unreasonable in light ofthe facts as they existed and appeared at the time he

discharged his weapon and killed Mr. Santos.

Officer Roselle graduated from the Allentown Police Academy on December

t7 , 2017 . He thereafter underwent thirteen weeks of field training in accordance

with South Whitehall Township Police Department protocols. However, he has

been on patrol by himself for less than five months.

The public should also know that Officer Roselle honorably served in the

United States Army, including a tour in Afghanistan, and is currently in the

National Guard holding the rank of Major.

After I arrived at the scene and as some limited facts were becoming known,

Lt. Kreg Rodrigues, Chief Glen Dorney and I appeared briefly in an impromptu
press conference with the assembled media on the parking lot of the comfort suites

Hotel. At the outset of that conference, I made clear that there were very few facts

that were then known. However, when I was describing the event, I used the

phrase "...the officer had to discharge his weapon." That was obviously at that

stage ofthe investigation, a poor choice ofphrasing. But, it was exactly that. It did
not and does not indicate that I had a bias in examining the facts, reviewing the

investigation, or making a charging decision. It is clearly obvious at this point, that

I have reached an opposite conclusion. In charging him I have concluded that

Officer Roselle did not (have) to discharge his weapon.

Ofcourse, since that evening I have had the benefit and the opportunity of

Iearning many more facts and also reviewing the audio and video recordings from

the "dashcam" camera and the body cam worn by Officer Roselle. Those videos had

to be downloaded and became available to me last Mondav.

Although I would prefer to show the videos to the media and to the public

today, they are now evidence in a criminal case; and I am ethically bound not to

show them outside of court. They will be introduced as evidence in the case and you

will have the opportunity to see and report on their content as the case progresses.

Right to Know Requests or Act 22 of 2017 requests will necessarily be denied

as protected from disclosure as investigative and as evidence until the case is

concluded.

Finally, I wish to commend the Pennsylvania State Police Troop M,

Bethlehem, the Fogelsville Station of Troop M, Trooper Thomas Rummerfield, the

Lehigh County Homicide Task Force and Detective James Bruchak for conducting a
very thorough investigation. I want to inform you and the public that this

investigation is on-going. we do not as of this time have a written autopsy report,

nor do we have the results of toxicolory testing of Mr. santos. That is not a

criticism, just a fact. Neither ofthose things is necessaly to this determination;

however, it may be that some further explanation regarding Mr. santos' actions will
become known.

As in every criminal case, the fact that an arrest has occurred or a

complaint has been filed is merely an accusation; and the defendant,

Jonathan R. Boselle, is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Allentown (end)

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