A South Whitehall Township police officer with just five months on the job has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of a man on July 28.

Officer Jonathan R. Roselle, 33, who lives in Parryville, shot Joseph Santos, 44, of Hasbrouck, New Jersey, five times after the man climbed onto the hood of his police cruiser and banged on the windows, then advanced toward the officer after being told to stop, according to Lehigh County District Attorney James B. Martin.

Martin said the shooting was “not justified.”

The officer had other options available, including a Taser and pepper spray, to deal with Santos, he said.

Roselle, who was charged by state police at Fogelsville, remains free on $75,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. Aug. 14 before District Judge Michael J. Faulkner.

He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

“I offer my sincere condolences to the family of Mr. Santos,” Martin said at a press conference Tuesday.

He also cautioned people to remain calm.

“To those who believe or contend that the death of Mr. Santos was either the result of police brutality or that racism was involved, the investigation has disclosed no facts which would support such claims,” Martin said.

“In my opinion, this was the act of a relatively inexperienced officer who held a subjective fear for his own safety. But (he) made a decision which objectively was unreasonable in light of the facts as they existed and appeared at the time he discharged his weapon and killed Mr. Santos,” he said.

After explaining the factors that define voluntary manslaughter as opposed to third-degree homicide, Martin said he was “satisfied that subjectively officer Roselle acted out of an honest, bona fide belief that he was in some imminent danger; however, an objective analysis of the 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.”

What happened that day

The incident began to unfold at 5:44 p.m. that day when Roselle responded to an area in the northbound lanes of Hamilton Boulevard (Route 222) near the Comfort Suites Hotel.

He had parked his cruiser on the median when a woman pulled alongside his passenger side door and reported (in what Martin described based on video as a “hysterical” or “frantic” manner) that a man had approached and tried to enter her vehicle while she was driving along Hamilton Boulevard.

Roselle made a U-turn and drove north until he saw 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, went to the passenger side, and banged on that window.

Roselle radioed Lehigh County Communications Center to report the incident in progress.

Still in his cruiser, with his duty weapon unholstered and while pointing it at Santos, Roselle repeatedly told Santos to get away from his vehicle, or to get off his vehicle.

Roselle also told the Comm Center that the man might have mental issues and that he needed backup and would await their arrival.

Santos walked away from the passenger side of Roselle’s cruiser toward Lincoln Avenue. He walked a short distance south (estimated by Roselle at less than 100 feet), and then reversed course and walked back toward the cruiser.

By that time Roselle had gotten out of his cruiser and was ordering Santos to “get down on the ground.”

Santos did not comply. Instead, he continued to walk toward Roselle.

As Santos drew nearer, Roselle fired his duty weapon five times.

The officer radioed “shots fired,” and requested an ambulance. His backup arrived and CPR was begun.

Santos was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Cedar Crest, where he was pronounced dead.

The charge, detailed

Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim has ruled the cause of Santos’ death to have been multiple gunshot wounds and the manner to have been homicide, which means death at the hands of another.

“We do not as of this time have a written autopsy report, nor do we have the results of toxicology testing of Mr. Santos. That is not a criticism, just a fact. Neither of those things is necessary to this determination; however, it may be that some further explanation regarding Mr. Santos’ actions will become known,” Martin said.

South Whitehall Police Chief Glenn Dorney called Martin to discuss the investigation.

“He was in agreement with my suggestion that we request the assistance of the Pennsylvania State Police and the Lehigh County Homicide Task Force to conduct the investigation into this officer-involved shooting,” Martin said.

Under the law, “(A) person who kills an individual without lawful justification, commits voluntary manslaughter, if at the time of the killing, he is acting under a sudden and intense passion resulting from serious provocation by: the individual killed; or … if at the time of the killing, he believes the circumstances to be such that if they existed, would justify the killing, but his belief is unreasonable,” Martin said.

“Voluntary manslaughter is a felony of the first degree for which a person, if convicted, may be sentenced to a maximum statutory term of imprisonment of not more than 20 years. If there is a finding of guilt, the sentencing judge would also have to consider Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines in the imposition of sentence,” he said.

Martin said prosecutors will have the burden of proving three elements:

First, that Santos is dead; second, that Roselle killed him; and third, that Roselle had the intent to kill.

Martin cited the section of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code that says an officer 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 such force is necessary to prevent the arrest from being defeated by resistance or escape.

“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.”

Martin said, “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.”

He said he approved the manslaughter charge rather than third degree because murder requires malice.

Roselle’s “subjective state of mind could reasonably have been that Mr. Santos was a danger to himself or others and that (Roselle) might have been in danger of some injury through acts of Santos,” Martin said.

“However, Mr. Santos then walked away from the police vehicle; and when he reversed his course and came toward officer Roselle, he was walking. He was not 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 of weapon, and he is heard on video saying to officer Roselle who has his weapon unholstered and pointing at him, ‘Don’t do it’,” he said.

“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,” Martin said.

“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,” he said.

Officer Roselle

In an affidavit of probable cause, Roselle stated to the first responding officer that he thought he “(expletive) 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 “(expletive) 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. In addition to his firearm, 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,” Martin said.

Roselle surrendered Tuesday afternoon. He is represented by Emanuel Kapelsohn and Gavin Holihan, both of Allentown.

Roselle graduated from the Allentown Police Academy on Dec. 17, 2017. He had 13 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, Martin said.

“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,” he said.