Officer Erik Drauschke has been charged with manslaughter in the death of 43-year-old Alan Greenough in February 2018.
READING, MA — A Reading police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man in Feb. 2018 did not wait for backup to arrive before opening the door of the man’s car, according to an indictment handed down Wednesday by a Middlesex County grand jury.
“The car doors were closed and the vehicle was parked in a way that it could not have been able to be utilized to flee the scene,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office said in a statement. “The defendant allegedly approached the vehicle alone and did not wait for assistance even though other police officers were in close proximity.”
The grand jury indicted Erik Drauschke on one charge of manslaughter in the death of 43-year-old Alan Greenough. Prosecutors said Drauschke shot twice as Greenough rushed out of the car with his hands in a sweatshirt pocket, yelling, “Shoot me, shoot me!”
Drauschke was one of several officers searching for Greenough, who had fled his apartment after officers responded to a report of a domestic assault on Feb. 3, 2018, the district attorney’s office said. Drauschke was alone when he found Greenough and did not wait for backup before confronting him, prosecutors said.
Greenough had been accused of assaulting two other residents, as well as assaulting the same two people the previous night, police said.
Arriving officers found Greenough locked himself in his apartment. They pleaded with him to surrender to them peacefully, prosecutors said, but he became agitated, holding a 3-foot broken table leg in his hands as he yelled at them from a window.
Greenough fled through a back window of the apartment, the DA’s office said. Drauschke then found a man fitting Greenough’s description sitting in a parked car, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Greenough did not attempt to flee or make any threatening gestures toward Drauschke, but the officer pulled his gun and ordered him out of the car.
Prosecutors said Greenough got out with his hands in his sweatshirt pocket and rushed at Drauschke, yelling, “Shoot me, shoot me!” Drauschke backed up and fired twice, hitting Greenough in the chest, the DA’s office said. Greenough later died from his injuries.
Greenough was unarmed and police did not find any weapons during a search of the area, the DA’s office said.
Drauschke was placed on unpaid administrative leave after the indictment was handed down Wednesday. The 14-year veteran of the Reading Police Department had been on paid administrative leave since the day of the shooting.
“The Reading Police Department has cooperated fully with the district attorney’s investigation over the past two-and-a-half years, and the agency will continue to cooperate fully,” Reading Police Chief David Clark said.
Drauschke will be arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court at a later date.
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