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Officer Erik Drauschke was charged with manslaughter in the killing of Alan Greenough. A caller told police that Greenough had attacked two people at a home attached to an East Coast Gas station on Feb. 3, 2018. Drauschke, who went to that call, responded to a similar call the night before at the same address against Greenough, the Middlesex County District Attorney said.
The jury deliberated for a little more than a day before returning their verdict, reports said.
"The decision to use deadly force against a human being is the most difficult moment in the life of any police officer, I know that Officer Drauschke will carry the burden of having made that choice," Reading Police Chief David Clark said in a statement following the verdict.
The Reading Police Department put Drauschke on paid leave last year after the Middlesex District Attorney indicted him.
It's unclear if he will return to active duty.
The prosecution and defense painted vastly different portraits of what happened that day in a junkyard behind the gas station.
Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Thomas Brant accused Drauschke of acting like a "cowboy" that day, per the Boston Globe. The prosecutor said the officer didn't follow protocols because he wanted to be a "hero."
The officer's defense however said Greenough kept his hands hidden, refused to obey commands, and posed a threat, the Globe reported. They told the jury that the officer did what he was trained to do.
“You have to put yourself in the place of a police officer in a rapidly changing, intense, dangerous situation,” said Kenneth Anderson, an attorney representing Drauschke, according to the Globe.
Drauschke faced up to 20 years in prison if he was convicted.
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