Jury expected to take up case of Philly cop charged with murder early next week

Prosecutors completed presenting their case Friday against a former Philadelphia police officer charged with murder and the jury may begin its deliberations as soon as Monday.

The prosecution rested after its final witness, Sgt. Michael Sidebotham, became the fifth police eyewitness to testify that the man shot dead appeared to pose a danger to the ex-officer on trial, Eric Ruch Jr., and other police.

In Philadelphia’s first such murder trial over an on-duty police killing in nearly 40 years, the District Attorney’s Office has charged Ruch, 34, with killing Dennis Plowden Jr., 25, on Dec. 27, 2017, after Plowden stumbled out of his crashed car after leading police on a high-speed evening chase in Olney.

Assistant District Attorneys Vincent Corrigan and Brian Collins have emphasized that no gun was found on Plowden. They have pointed out that the autopsy showed that Ruch’s single shot cut through Plowden’s raised left hand before striking his forehead, suggesting he was raising a hand in surrender.

They noted that police witnesses, despite testifying that Plowden appeared to pose a risk, agreed he was sitting on the sidewalk or a curb, leaning back, when he was shot. And they have stressed how Ruch fired his Glock only seconds after emerging from his police car.

» READ MORE: Fellow officers testify in case of Eric Ruch, former Philly police officer charged with murder

Defense lawyer David Mischak has focused on how Plowden led police on a dangerous car chase after they tried to stop him because he was spotted in a car highlighted in a “patrol alert” as of interest in a murder investigation. The alert warned that the unnamed occupants of the car might be armed and dangerous. (After Plowden’s death, police said he had not been a suspect in that case.)

Plowden drove his car into the open door of a police cruiser at the start of the chase, injuring an officer. He then raced three blocks, running a red light at a busy commercial intersection and hitting speeds that an expert from the police department pegged at at least 77 mph.

While prosecutors have focused on Plowden’s left hand, the defense has emphasized the other hand, saying that police had a legitimate worry at the time that Plowden might have been reaching for a gun or getting ready to fire one through a pocket.

» READ MORE: Prosecution and defense square off at the trial of a former Philly cop charged with murder

Sidebotham joined other police witnesses — and one civilian eyewitness — in saying Plowden had made motions with his right hand or put it inside a right-hand pocket.

“I saw his right hand goes into his right hoodie pocket,” Sidebotham testified.

Ruch was the only officer to fire a gun that night. Mischak has not said whether he will call Ruch to the stand Monday, in what is expected to be the last day of testimony before closing arguments.