Rogue Cop Killed Innocent Shooting Bystander, Fiancée Says

On the evening of Nov. 6, 48-year-old Kenneth Vinyard was pushed by a police officer to the pavement shortly after a shooting outside a Walmart in Center Township, Pennsylvania. He was dead within hours.

His fiancée—who was on the scene—said in an interview that Vinyard was hit “near the chest or throat area” by the cop, who authorities say was off-duty, for no reason. Video obtained by The Daily Beast appears to capture the moment in question.

“He kind of, like, hit a clothesline-type thing on him, and I don’t know if he was trying to sweep his leg or what, because he ended up on top of him,” Marcy Beatty, the fiancée, said in an interview.

Beatty told The Daily Beast that she saw Vinyard fall and start to seize after he was struck.

The low-quality, pixelated cell-phone video seems to capture Vinyard—in an orange shirt—toppling to the ground at the top left of the frame, as emergency personnel respond to a shooting victim in the foreground. Who or what caused him to fall is far from clear in the limited footage.

“Wow, what happened!” screams a bystander.

“Get the camera out of here now!” a voice can be heard shouting before the brief clip ends.

Vinyard was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival at the hospital, according to a Pennsylvania State Police report released on Nov. 9. The agency is now conducting an investigation into Vinyard’s death, according to the report, which states that an off-duty police officer “use[d] force against Vinyard” and that as a result, “Vinyard impacted the pavement and lost consciousness.”

Beaver County PSP station commander Sgt. Gesuele Burello said that the video “appears to be a legitimate video from that night,” though it is hard to make out specific people.

The report attributes the off-duty cop’s use of force against Vinyard to an “incident” that is not described in any detail, and it does not clarify any official cause of death.

The Beaver County Coroner’s Office did not respond to a request for the results of Vinyard’s autopsy.

The findings of an independent autopsy by controversial celebrity pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht have not been finalized. But “preliminarily, Dr. Wecht is indicating that the death of this man was clearly caused by the actions of this... police officer,” said family lawyer Joel Sanson.

The unrelated shooting that preceded Vinyard’s fall left one man injured. The alleged shooter was later arrested by police. But Vinyard’s fiancée believes the off-duty cop who responded to the shooting’s scene—where she said her husband-to-be was only trying to help—caused his death, and did so without provocation.

“I want this officer to pay for what they did to him,” Beatty told The Daily Beast. “I want him to go to jail for the rest of his life, so that every day, he can think about what he did and why—because there was no reason,” she said.

Center Township police chief Barry Kramer referred all questions about the incident and the officer’s work status to the Pennsylvania State Police. “The Township of Center and the Center Township Police Department offer our thoughts and prayers to the family of Kenneth Vinyard,” he sent in a written statement by email.

PSP Public Information Trooper Joshua Black sent a written statement from investigators, which confirmed an “active and open investigation,” and that the agency is “working with the Beaver County DA’s Office to further the investigation.” He did not answer questions about the officer’s identity, and Sgt. Burello told The Daily Beast only that the officer who used force on Vinyard was a member of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit.

Both Burello and the statement referred all questions about the work and pay status of the officer in question back to CTPD, which the statement said are “part of an administrative function and not part of the criminal investigation.” CTPD did not respond to follow-up questions for this story.

On that Sunday night, Vinyard had been waiting in the car for Beatty to leave the Beaver County Walmart when he found himself the witness to the shooting, she said.

“When I came out, he was already at the victim,” Beatty told the Beast on Friday. “He hollered for me to come over.”

Beatty and Vinyard’s sisters, Debbie Little and Lisa Sylva, told The Daily Beast that this was typical behavior for Vinyard, who was charitable and a friend of many police officers. His phone was later found to contain pictures of “people running” and potentially the shooter’s intended getaway car, according to his family.

“He was trying to do the best he could to help and make sure that they caught who did this to the other guy,” Beatty told The Beast through tears.

“And he ended up losing his life for it. He was waiting in the car for me, so if he had stayed in the car he would probably still be alive, but he went to this guy’s aid and ended up dead.”

Vinyard had a limp and one leg that was shorter than the other, according to Beatty, meaning could be perceived as “off balance.” But she said she perceived, upon reviewing the video, that he had his hands down when he was pushed.

“He was explaining to the guy, ‘I’m not doing anything,’ and he was actually backing up from the officer,” she told the Beast. (What, precisely, preceded Vinyard’s fall—and what he was doing at that moment—is virtually impossible to discern in the low-quality clip.)

Beatty, a medical assistant, said she initially aided the shooting victim after Vinyard called for her help—but as soon as her fiancé fell to the pavement, she found herself attempting to save his life, as well.

She screamed at the officer to get away from her loved one.

“He said, ‘I’m a police officer,’” Beatty recalled on Tuesday.

“I don’t care who you are, you did this, you need to get the eff away from him,“ Beatty said she yelled, as she began chest compressions.

Vinyard’s death has rocked his relatives, including his 12-year-old daughter Crimson—named after his favorite football team from the University of Alabama—but it has also rippled through Beaver County, his family said.

Beatty told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that it was at her fiancé’s memorial luncheon that a witness approached her with the video of the incident, and that she’s facetimed with the family of the shooting victim, who survived.

The Go Fund Me for Vinyard’s funeral expenses—which include sending his body to his family’s home in Georgia—has raised over $20,000.

Beatty explained that she just wants to know why the cop singled out Vinyard, who she claimed was standing to the side of the scene and not acting belligerent.

“I just don’t understand... I can’t tell you how many times I’ve replayed it. I close my eyes, I see it. It just doesn’t make sense.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.

Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now.