Yardley man who shot police chief gets prison time, but will need 'long-term treatment'

A Yardley man with a long history of mental illness and substance abuse will spend 15 to 30 years in prison for a 2021 shooting and standoff that left the borough's police chief injured.

In handing down his sentence Monday, Bucks County Common Pleas Judge Wallace Bateman Jr. recommended Colin Petroziello's sentence be served in a state prison with a mental health or psychiatric hospital, saying that it was obvious he needs long-term psychiatric treatment.

The shooting injured Yardley Police Chief Joseph Kelly III and shined a spotlight on a family’s private struggles with their adult son and his mental health diagnosis and substance abuse issues.

Bateman told Petroziello, 26, who appeared in court with hair past his shoulders and a beard just as long, that the outcome the day of the shooting could have been much worse.

"Almost any level of (police) force would have been justified," the judge said.

Petroziello said he understood.

"I appreciate that. Thank you, Chief Kelly," he said to the officer who did not fire his service weapon during the incident.

Bateman sentenced Petroziello to 15 to 30 years in state prison for the two attempted murder charges against him for Kelly and Bucks County Adult probation officer Christina Viviano. The sentences will be served concurrently, meaning they will both run at the same time, meaning Petroziello would max out when he is 56.

Dozens of supporters of the chief and Viviano attended the sentencing, along with two dozen supporters of the Petroziello family. Bateman noted that many letters on Petroziello's behalf requested he be sentenced to a psychiatric hospital rather than state prison.

But Bateman said it was clear that Petroziello not only had serious mental health issues, but a history of using drugs and alcohol to self medicate, possession of firearms, which he was not allowed to have, and a history of failing to comply with medical treatment for his issues.

"In my judgement, that makes you very dangerous," Bateman said. "You did know someone was on the other side of that door."

Petroziello entered a no-contest plea last year to a list of charges including felony attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer and attempted murder. It was an open plea, meaning there was no negotiated sentence.

Prosecutors said that Petroziello initially planned to plead guilty but mentally ill, but opted for a no-contest plea which means he is not admitting guilt, but confirms the prosecution has enough evidence to convict if the case went to trial.

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Petroziello has been held in Bucks County jail without bail since his arrest.

In emotional victim impact statements, Viviano and Kelly noted that in the 536 days since the shooting, Petroziello had never apologized, shown remorse or accepted responsibility for his actions on Aug. 18, 2021. Prosecutor Jennifer Schorn also told the court Petroziello did not express his remorse to experts who spoke to him for his presentencing report.

The day of the shooting, Viviano told Bateman she was meeting with Petroziello for the first time, and she had a bad feeling in her gut as she drove to the Yardley Commons complex. She told the court that she had been recently reassigned Petroziello's case and had scheduled an at-home visit the day of the shooting.

It was the first time in her career that she notified the Bucks County 911 dispatch before doing an offender check to do a status check on her if they had not heard back from her in five minutes, she said.

Shortly after she arrived at the condo, Viviano said she heard arguing and loud noises in the condo and when she knocked on the door. The front door started to open then it slammed shut, prompting Viviano to call for police backup.

Viviano was standing next to Kelly, who responded to her backup request, when Petroziello fired his shotgun. Kelly moved his body to protect Viviano, who was not physical injured, but told the court she needed months of intensive therapy, and still has an aversion to loud noises.

"I was not spared by Colin Petroziello. I was saved by Chief Kelly," Viviano said. "Chief Kelly, you are my hero."

Kelly, who has worked in law enforcement for over 30 years, told the court, another officer on duty was on a lab run when he heard Viviano request backup and decided to handle it himself.

When he arrived at the scene, Kelly knocked on the door and identified himself as a police officer, then looked in through a window at the top of the door. He saw Colin Petroziello prone and pointing a shotgun at him from the second-floor landing. Colin Petroziello then pulled the trigger, firing once.

The buckshot penetrated the window and door and struck Kelly in the left ear and hand.  Kelly had surgery to remove 15 pieces of buckshot. While he has since resumed his duties as chief, he carries permanent reminders of the day.

His hands bear the surgical scars and buckshot fragments too small to be removed are embedded in his hand. His left ring finger is deformed and has reduced mobility, he said.

After he was led back into court following a brief recess, before Bateman had returned to the bench, Petroziello looked toward Viviano and Kelly and apologized.

"I'm sorry about what happened that day. I was a different person. I'm sorry it ever happened," he said in a low voice.

He apologized again before Bateman sentenced him.

"I wish I was able to understand what happened that day," Petroziello said.

Also testifying Monday were Colin Petroziello's parents, Ann and Guy, who walked the court through their memory of what happened the day of the shooting and reiterated their efforts to get their son help for his mental health and drug abuse starting at an early age.

Ann Petroziello had gone to the condo to take her son to a court appearance in Philadelphia, but he was angry and in a frantic state, refusing to leave, and insisting that his parents had set him up and people outside were waiting to shoot him.

She told the court that she did not see any evidence in the condo that Colin had been drinking, though at one point after firing the shotgun he opened and guzzled four 20-ounce cans of Guinness beer, she said.

She also said she did not know he possessed firearms, until he put a pistol in his mouth and threatened to kill himself, before the shooting that injured Kelly. She also denied that her son held her in the condo against her will or that he intended to hurt anyone other than himself.

Ann Petroziello told the court that she and her husband had been praying for Viviano and Kelly since the shooting. Her brother approached Kelly after the shooting to apologize on behalf of the family, she said. She and her husband dropped off a card for Kelly at the borough police station.

The day of the shooting, Petroziello’s parents contacted Bucks County Adult Probation and Parole to see if an officer could convince their son to go to his court hearing in Philadelphia, which was also scheduled that day. Colin Petroziello was on probation in Bucks County for a previous disorderly conduct incident.

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The four-hour standoff involved 300 police officers from surrounding areas, including a special armored vehicle to rescue his mother from a second-floor window. Police used explosives to break down the door and arrest Petroziello, who was unconscious when officers found him.

Police confiscated a shotgun that Ann Petroziello had tossed from a window during the standoff. A pistol was also found in Colin Petroziello's pants waistband when he was arrested.

Petroziello was not allowed to possess the weapons because of an active protection-from-abuse order and two prior involuntary mental health commitments. Authorities have never explained where and how he obtained the firearms.

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Petroziello’s parents have been public about his long history of mental illness including paranoid psychosis, oppositional defiance, anxiety and depression, as well as a seizure disorder and Asperger’s syndrome. They have acknowledged their son self-medicated with alcohol and drugs including mind-altering substances.

His previous violent outbursts had been directed solely at family members and inanimate objects, they said.

In the months and weeks before the standoff, his parents maintained, their son’s mental health steadily deteriorated including increasing signs of delusional, withdrawn, angry and paranoid behavior, but attempts to get him outside help were thwarted because he is an adult.

Since his incarceration, Ann Petroziello told the court that she has seen a dramatic improvement in her son's mental health, which she attributed to a combination of five psychotropic drugs that he is prescribed.

She described the experience of dealing with a family member with serious mental illness and substance abuse as a "humbling experience."

"You're constantly in crisis mode to keep them alive," Ann Petroziello said. "It brings you to your knees."

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Man sentenced to prison for standoff, shooting of Yardley police chief