A Northern York County Regional police officer was justified in using force when he fatally shot a New Oxford man during a traffic stop in Manchester Township, the district attorney said Wednesday.
District Attorney Dave Sunday said the police officer believed another officer’s life was in jeopardy when he shot 27-year-old Gregory Stough in the parking lot of the Stillmeadow Church of the Nazarene on the early morning of Jan. 6.
Stough was wanted on four active traffic warrants when police found him sleeping in his Pontiac Bonneville. He refused to step out of the car, and when an officer tried to remove him, Stough drove in reverse, trapping the officer and forcing him backward at a high rate of speed in the direction of another patrol car, Sunday said.
The officer was pinned between Stough’s car and the driver’s side door and within seconds of slamming into another vehicle or falling and being run over, Sunday said
The other officer fired 14 rounds at Stough, striking him multiple times in the head.
Sunday said an investigation by Pennsylvania State Police “clearly indicates” the facts and circumstances support the use of deadly force.