PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Prosecutors have wrapped their case against former Philadelphia police officer Eric Ruch, who is facing third-degree murder charges for killing an unarmed Black man in 2017. It comes as the defense asked for an acquittal.
Ruch’s attorney argued that through 3 ½ days of testimony, prosecutors never showed any evidence of recklessness which is needed for the third-degree murder charge.
Ruch shot and killed Dennis Plowden, 25, on Dec. 27, 2017 after a brief car chase.
Most of the witnesses were officers on scene that night who said the car Plowden was driving at North 16th Street and West Nedro Avenue was wanted in a homicide, and they were to consider the occupants armed and dangerous.
When they tried to pull him over that night, he hit one of the police cars, slightly injuring an officer. Plowden eventually crashed his SUV at 19th and Nedro, where he encountered about a half-dozen officers.
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Each of the officers said Plowden had his right hand tucked away in clothing. Another eyewitness said the same, and said Plowden’s left hand was up in the air.
Based on their questions, prosecutors seemed to show they felt Ruch fired too quickly and should have taken cover.
They argued malice is inferred because Ruch is trained to use a gun and shouldn’t have shot Plowden in the head.
The judge went back and forth a bit with prosecutors about malice, and whether they showed evidence of it at all. Ultimately, she sided with them and left the third-degree murder charge in place, and let the jury decide.
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Prosecutors also argued since Plowden had just crashed, he may have had a concussion, but the judge interjected and said there was no evidence of that shown to the jury.
Jury members heard from a police officer who corroborated that the eyewitness who testified didn’t think Ruch was wrong in shooting Plowden, but just wished he shot him somewhere else.
The jury will be back Monday and is expected to hear from more defense witnesses.