"I'm so happy, I'm so relieved," Terry Bowen said.
That was the reaction from the mother of 20-year-old Lawrence Allen after learning that Commissioner Ramsey has suspended with intent to dismiss Sgt. Chauncey Ellison and Officer Robin Fortune.
The two were off duty back on November 17, 2008, when the sergeant learned that somebody had robbed his son for a $10 pizza in the 7400 block of 19th.
Both Ellison and Fortune went looking for the guy and mistakenly thought it was Allen, the father of 3 young children who worked at a veterinary clinic. His wife and others witnessed the whole thing when she says Ellision drove up going the wrong way on a one street waving a gun.
"And he was like, 'look, I have nothing to do with it, it was a friend of mine that took your pizza, but we don't have nothing to do with it, if you want, I'll get your son another pizza.'" Emily Rosado, the victim's wife, said.
At that point, Rosado says Ellison shot her husband in the back. He later died.
At the time, D.A. Lynne Abraham did not file any charges because one witness reported he thought he saw Allen flash a gun, but no gun was found. Meanwhile, Ramsey fired the officers for taking matters into their own hands instead of calling on-duty uniform officers and also for their actions after the shooting. They fled the scene and called 911 from Cheltenham saying they had shot someone in Philadelphia.
"I want them to go to jail for life, but then still he deserves a lot more than that. My kids, they'll never get to see their father again," Rosado said.
"I want to see him in bars for murder, him and her both," Bowen said.
In a related development, newly elected D.A. Seth Williams who vowed going into office that he would not rubber stamp cases handed to him by police has reopened the case and it's now under review to determine if there was any criminal wrong doing by the two officers involved. A few days ago, he filed murder charges against another officer who killed a man while off duty.
