DA’s office seeking information from crisis line call in Redstone Township shooting
Fayette County’s top law enforcement official is awaiting details of a call made to a crisis hotline before making determinations about whether a Redstone Township police officer was justified in shooting and killing a man earlier this year.
District Attorney Mike Aubele said Thursday that a call was placed to a hotline before police responded to 132 Lyndale Road in Grindstone, where 27-year-old Christopher Hackney was living.
“That call was funneled to somewhere in West Virginia,” Aubele said, explaining that was where the call was answered.
The person who answered the crisis hotline then placed a call to Fayette County 911.
The details of the crisis call were sent to the headquarters of the organization, which was not identified, in New York. That is where Aubele is seeking the records.
Redstone Township police were called to the Lyndale Road home to conduct a wellness check on Hackney. An officer shot and killed Hackney, but additional details on what led to the shooting have been scant.
Last month Redstone Township Supervisor and Right-to-Know officer George Matis confirmed the officer had been placed on leave after the Herald-Standard filed an RTK request.
Matis did not disclose the officer’s name.
Aubele expressed he did not feel it would be appropriate to come to a decision in the case without knowing the details of the call to the crisis hotline.
“I think it’s necessary to review all of the evidence before making a decision. We owe it to the victim and his family, as well as the officer, to conduct a full investigation,” Aubele said.