An off-duty South Carolina police officer who began his law enforcement career with the New York City Police Department was charged with murder Wednesday for allegedly shooting and killing an unarmed man outside a Chick-fil-A.
Somerville Police Department suspect Anthony DeLastro is accused of jumping into the car of Michael O’Neal, 39, who was attempting to flee after an altercation with an off-duty police officer on March 20, and fatally shooting the victim. There is.
Delstro, 64, attempted to claim self-defense shortly after the fatal altercation, saying he feared for the safety of the community and his wife.
However, according to an affidavit provided by state authorities, witness interviews and video evidence collected by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) indicate that the officers “maliciously killed the victim beforehand.” It is said that there is
“Because the victim was unarmed, walked away from the altercation, and attempted to drive away, a reasonable person could reasonably believe that the victim posed an imminent risk of death or a threat of serious injury to others. I couldn’t believe it,” said the senior special agent. At SLED, he wrote in his affidavit:
Witnesses told investigators that Delstro was the “primary aggressor” and that O’Neal tried to leave after the two got into a physical fight in the fast food restaurant’s parking lot, documents said. He is said to have killed.
It’s unclear what sparked the scuffle, but once both men got out of the car, O’Neill asked the off-duty officer, “Do you want to do this?” One of the witnesses spoke to SLED multiple times.
Witnesses said Delstro responded with a homophobic slur: “Come on, you son of a bitch.”
The men then began a physical fight as bystanders tried to separate them. While the two men were fighting, Delstro tried to use his Somerville police ID and told O’Neal he was under arrest, according to the affidavit.
Documents say the officer’s handgun fell from its holster and onto the sidewalk during the confrontation.
Witnesses said O’Neal’s own father had been a police officer with the Winston-Salem Police Department for more than 30 years, but at some point told him his job was over and he wanted to quit. He backed up, got back in his car and tried to leave.
However, a bystander who was holding the officer back said that Delastro yelled, “If you leave, I’ll shoot you,” and that the officer’s wife physically tried to stop O’Neal from leaving.
Mr. Delstro fled from the bystander, scooped up the handgun from the sidewalk and got into the passenger seat of O’Neal’s Hyundai Genesis with the gun.
Mr. O’Neal yelled for him to get out of the car, but Mr. DeLastro remained there with the passenger side door open.
The victim then began to drive away, and Delstro fired one shot from the passenger seat, striking O’Neal and killing her before paramedics arrived, the affidavit said.
Somerville Police Department placed Delstro (who was treated for minor injuries) on administrative leave following the shooting and handed over the investigation to SLED. According to WCSC.
According to documents, the officer admitted to SLED investigators that he never saw the victim carrying a weapon, never threatened to use any weapon, and that he tried to stop O’Neal from leaving. It is said that
The special agent said that after the fight ended in “reckless” behavior, Mr. Delstro re-engaged Mr. O’Neal with a deadly weapon, giving Mr. O’Neal, rather than the angry officer, the right to self-defense.
Somerville police fired Delstro, who was charged with murder, on Wednesday, WCSC reported.
The police department expressed its sympathies to both the victim and the murder suspect’s family in an online statement.
A statement posted on Facebook said: “This tragedy has hit two families hard. Our hearts go out to both families.”
O’Neill’s cousin has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to help pay for his parents’ funeral expenses.
“We are all devastated by the untimely and untimely passing of our dear Michael, or Mike, or Mikey, or O’Neal,” Amy Nail wrote in the caption. “As of this writing, there are many unanswered questions and Michael’s family respectfully awaits a thorough investigation by SLED, which will take time.”
DeLustro began his career with the New York City Police Department and spent many years working in various police, sheriff, and campus security departments in South Carolina.
Online records show he was an NYPD officer from 1980 to 2003, during which time he received three complaints of misconduct from the public.
Two of the charges were related to use of force. Both charges were dismissed by the Civilian Complaint Review Board as unsubstantiated and unsubstantiated. An abuse of power investigation into a third unnecessary traffic stop has not been completed since Delstro retired from the NYPD and moved to the Palmetto State that same year.
His first job in the state was as a security guard at Trident Polytechnic Institute, where his employer said he had a “pronounced short temper,” but rarely received complaints from the public, according to a background check obtained by WCSC. It is said that there was not.
The SLED investigation is still ongoing.
