PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia police officer became distraught when he learned that a motorist he fatally shot after a high-speed chase was unarmed, his lawyer said as the ex-officer’s third-degree murder trial began Tuesday.Prosecutors said that former Officer Eric Ruch Jr.
shot and killed Dennis Plowden Jr. less than six seconds after arriving on the scene — even as other officers held their fire.
A grand jury investigation found that Plowden, 25, was dazed after crashing the car and had his left hand raised as he tried to follow commands on a city sidewalk.However, defense lawyer David Mischak told jurors that Plowden’s right hand remained hidden near a pocket.
Only later, he said, did Ruch learn what was inside."As soon as my client discovered it was heroin and not a gun, he was upset.