There isn’t any body-cam footage in the fatal shooting along I-95 involving Pa. state troopers

As authorities continue to investigate the fatal shooting of Anthony Allegrini Jr., who was killed by a state trooper on I-95 earlier this month, they will not have the benefit of footage from body-worn cameras to assist in their work.

While experts agree that such footage is useful in capturing officers’ interactions with people they encounter on the job, the Pennsylvania State Police has not yet equipped its troopers with the devices. So as investigators piece together what happened on the night Allegrini was killed, real-time footage of the incident will not be among their tools.

Troopers responding to reports of illegal street racing near Penn’s Landing approached the Audi S4 that Allegrini was driving, and he failed to yield and struck them, authorities said. One of the troopers then fired a shot through the car’s windshield, striking Allegrini, 18, of Glen Mills, who died at the scene, according to state police. The troopers suffered minor injuries, authorities said.

» READ MORE: Friends and family of Anthony Allegrini Jr. gather for his funeral as they push for a transparent investigation into his death

The June 4 incident remains under investigation by state police and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, but few details on how the episode unfolded have been made public. Authorities have not identified the troopers or described where they were in relation to the car when one of them pulled the trigger, and they have not said where the bullet struck Allegrini.

Video posted on social media shows that Allegrini got out of the car after he was shot. He was seen physically struggling, then lying alone on the highway as a nearby trooper appeared to turn his gun toward a motorist who was filming the scene.

Investigators have interviewed multiple witnesses and have asked anyone with video of the incident to provide it to authorities as they work to uncover the events of that chaotic night.

A lawyer for the Allegrini family has demanded answers about the shooting and its aftermath, saying the young man’s relatives wanted accountability for his death. The lawyer, Enrique Latoison, decried the lack of body-worn camera video to help provide a real-time view of what happened that night.

“Basically in 2023 there’s no excuse for no department, especially the State of Pennsylvania, to not have body cameras. There’s no excuse for it,” he said. “Bodycams protect the officers. They protect the defendants. And also fuels transparency for all parties involved.”

It’s unclear why Pennsylvania’s 4,740 state troopers are not equipped with body-worn cameras. A spokesperson for the state police declined to say.

Capt. Gerard McShea, commanding officer of State Police Troop K station, acknowledged when speaking to reporters about the incident that body-cam footage may have provided useful insight into the shooting.

“I think any available evidence would have helped this investigation,” he said.

State police officials say they see the benefit of body cams and will equip some troopers with them beginning next month. It’s unclear which troops will receive the cameras first, state police spokesperson Myles Snyder said, but he said the “ultimate goal” was for every trooper to have one.

“It brings an element of transparency that the public wants and expects from police. And so we satisfy that,” he said.

Experts say body-worn cameras provide needed accountability at a time when law enforcement is under increasing scrutiny. And because the cameras record both sides of officers’ interactions, the scrutiny and accountability extends to citizens’ actions as well. So recordings from the cameras are often essential components of investigations into law enforcement actions.

“Not only does it offer a level of transparency to the public, but it offers a level of transparency to police leadership,” said Eric Piza, professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University. “When you have questions about exactly why did a given officer take a given action in the field, officers seem to believe from their personal experience that the body cameras help support their perspective and a lot of actions they take in the field.”

In Philadelphia, where the Police Department began equipping its officers with body cams in 2014, footage captured by such cameras was critical in the aftermath of the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. in 2020.

Wallace, who relatives said was in the midst of a mental health crisis, was holding a knife as he approached two officers outside his parents’ home in West Philadelphia. He ignored their calls for him to drop the weapon and continued toward the officers, who shot him 14 times, killing him.

The incident triggered widespread protests as people took to the streets across the city to protest Wallace’s killing and called it an inappropriate police response.

When Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw released the body-cam footage, Wallace’s family called on the city to equip more officers with Tasers as an alternative to the use of guns. The city later pledged to provide Tasers to all officers and agreed to pay $2.5 million to Wallace’s family to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit.

As state police officials move to outfit troopers with body-worn cameras, they’re also adding mobile cameras to vehicles, State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris has said.

Those steps, experts say, are part of a trend of transparency in law enforcement that has accelerated since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“Most of what police officers do, they can defend,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a group focused on improving the professionalism of policing. “What happens is when you don’t have body-worn camera footage, it opens yourself up to a lot of questions about what may have actually happened. That’s how policing has changed. The standard is higher.”