Jury awards $21 million to family of man killed by police officer in Canton RV

A federal jury has awarded the family of Anthony Edward Gallo $21 million in damages, ruling that a state police officer who shot and killed him in a Canton Township trailer in 2017 used “excessive force” in the incident.

After a trial lasting several days, the jury announced its verdict on Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Pittsburgh. It concluded that police officer Chad Weaver “acted arbitrarily or maliciously” when he violated Gallo’s constitutional rights.

Weaver shot Gallo at close range with an AR-15 rifle on October 1, 2017, after an altercation in a mobile home on Mark Avenue.

“Sadly, the Gallo family would rather have their father, son and brother back. But the sentence was very, very appropriate,” said Washington attorney Noah Geary, who filed the lawsuit and represented Gallo’s family during the civil trial. “Anthony was only 34 years old. The murder was completely unnecessary.”

The lawsuit was filed in September 2019 by Gallo’s father, Louis Gallo, on behalf of his late son’s estate. The eight-person jury awarded $3 million in compensatory damages, $7 million in compensatory damages for Gallo’s son, Paul, and another $11 million in punitive damages. In its verdict, the jury found that Weaver used “unreasonably excessive force” against Gallo, violating his Fourth Amendment rights, and “acted arbitrarily or maliciously” in violating his constitutional rights.

State police were called to the Canton Township trailer park by Gallo’s mother, Betty Gray, after Gallo was experiencing a mental health crisis at his grandmother’s home at 17 Mark Avenue. According to the lawsuit, Gallo had suffered a head injury in a car accident earlier this year and was behaving “strangely but not violently” before Gray called 911 “to make a call about his mental health issues.”

Weaver and his partner, Officer Matthew Shaffer, arrived on the scene and Gallo, who was holding a knife at the time, entered a neighboring home at 20 Mark Avenue, whereupon officers followed him inside with their AR-15 rifles. Moments later, officers located Gallo in a bedroom in the rear of the trailer and Weaver fired his weapon in two bursts, seven seconds apart, striking the victim ten times. In their investigation, State Police claimed Gallo took a step toward officers with the knife in his hand, although the lawsuit disputes this view and the jury appeared to agree with the plaintiff’s opinion.

“It’s still very sad,” Geary said of the verdict. “I’m sure psychologically and subconsciously they thought if there was a verdict it would take away some of the pain. That hasn’t been the case and it never will. They’re holding up as best they can.”

The mobile home at 20 Mark Avenue where Gallo was killed is unoccupied and marked as a “dangerous building.” Faded yellow crime scene tape is wrapped around the porch. Across the street at 17 Mark Avenue, where Gallo’s relatives lived, a man who answered the door Thursday but declined to identify himself said the family was pleased with the verdict and now wants Weaver to be held criminally responsible for Gallo’s death.

The Washington County Coroner’s Office ruled in a February 2018 inquest that the shooting was justified, making it unlikely that Weaver will face criminal charges. Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh said Thursday he was aware of the ruling in the federal lawsuit but had no intention of reopening the investigation into the killing.

“It was justified by (then-District Attorney) Gene Vittone,” Walsh said. “It was already decided before I got here.”

Geary called the investigation a “farce” and said Shaffer’s explanation of events from the beginning contradicted Weaver’s claim that Gallo approached her with the knife.

“The criminal case should be re-examined,” Geary said of the family’s wishes. “Walsh will obviously not look at this again because he has to give in to law enforcement instead of doing the right thing.”

Weaver has been off patrol since December 2017 – two months after the shooting – when he was transferred to the state police’s Bureau of Gaming Enforcement in December 2017, according to Lt. Adam Reed, a state police spokesman at the department’s headquarters near Harrisburg. Weaver is currently assigned to the Hollywood Casino at The Meadows in North Strabane Township, Reed said.

“A verdict in a civil case would have no impact on his duty status, so his duty status can be considered ‘complete,'” said Reed, who declined to answer a question about the state police’s response to the verdict.

The lawsuit also named four other defendants, all of whom served as state police supervisors at the Washington County barracks. U.S. District Judge Robert Colville, who is presiding over the case, excluded the other defendants from the lawsuit on Tuesday before making closing arguments on Wednesday.

Geary considered the decision a “mistake” because Weaver’s superiors were aware of his past behavior and complaints regarding his actions on site.

“Weaver had a violent past, and his superiors did nothing about it and said they didn’t know about it,” Geary said. “The state police deliberately looked the other way, and I don’t know why.”