In a recent development in Beaver County, former Center Township police officer John Hawk, 38, has entered a guilty plea for the 2022 death of Kenneth Vinyard, a bystander at a Walmart shooting scene. According to WPXI, Hawk faced charges of involuntary manslaughter and related offenses.
Hawk was off-duty during the incident and was accused of conducting a leg sweep that caused Vinyard to fall to the ground, leading to his death from blunt force trauma. Judge Richard Mancini handed down a sentence of five years' probation, a resolution that occurred after a jury had already been selected, indicating an unexpected twist in the courtroom proceedings. "This sworn officer’s actions contributed to the death of a man who was not a threat to anyone at the scene of this shooting," Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a statement obtained by WPXI. There was no sentence agreement between the defense and the Attorney General’s Office, which were prepared to take the case to trial before the guilty plea was announced.
Hawk's admission to the charges of involuntary manslaughter, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person marks a close to the case that began on Nov. 6, 2022, when Hawk interfered with Vinyard, who was attempting to present potential evidence to the police at the Walmart. Hawk, who was dressed in casual attire and didn't identify himself as an officer, executed a leg-sweep maneuver on Vinyard, leading to the tragic outcome. A perjury charge against Hawk was also dropped as part of the plea, WTAE reports.
The victim's sister, Debbie Little, expressed a sense of closure to WTAE in an interview in which she said, "We were prepared for the worst, and totally taken by surprise that he did plead guilty." She added, "All we wanted from the beginning is for him to say he is guilty, and that he's sorry, and I think his comments in the courtroom today show us that he really is sorry." After the preliminary hearing in February 2024, Hawk’s attorney, Steve Colafella, cited Hawk's training and professional background in defense of his actions. "He's a trained police officer. He's not somebody who is reputed to be reckless or unreasonably tough. That's never been his thing. So clearly something happened, I'll leave you that much, that justified him being taken down," Colafella told the media at that time.
