Police in Pennsylvania killed a man Tuesday after he made threats against them on Youtube, highlighting two weeks of nationwide arrests against citizens accused of making online threats against cops.
According to Upper Darby police, Joseph Anthony Pacini had tried to run them over after they visited him in his home. Fearing for their lives, they opened fire, killing the 52-year-old man.
Unlike the previous alleged threats from others around the country, which were generalized rants that at worst, suggested police needed to be killed, there is no doubt Pacini made clear threats to an individual cop.
That is evident beginning at the 5:00 mark in the first video below, where he ends up making his most direct threat, after talking about a call he received from a detective from the Haverford Township Police Department named Matt Hufnal who had called him and left a message, wanting to speak to him about complaints somebody had filed against him at the local gym.
“Clearly, these guys want me dead or in prison and there’s no way in hell, I’m going back to prison, no fucking way, so to the police, to the FBI, to the CIA agents, I’m not taking off my family anymore.
“This time, the Sicilian code is now busted. I’m opening my mouth right now, right here, 5:37 p.m., Monday, December 29, 2014.
“So if you want to bring me down, I will fucking kill you and your whole fucking family, so go ahead and fuck with me,” he shouts
Less than 24 hours later, he was dead, just as he predicted in the video when he tried to reach out to singer Sarah Bareilles, whom he claimed was his soulmate, although it is likely he had never met her.
Besides spending time in prison, he mentions that he had spent time in an “insane asylum.”
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Police fatally shot a 52-year-old man Tuesday afternoon in Drexel Hill after he attempted to run them down with his vehicle, said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.
Officers had been trying to arrest the man, identified by a law enforcement source as Joseph A. Pacini of Clifton Heights, after he allegedly posted rants against local officers and federal agents on YouTube, Chitwood said.
“He threatened to kill police, threatened to kill FBI agents,” Chitwood said.
After trailing him from Clifton Heights, officers pulled over Pacini’s vehicle near the intersection of Garrett Road and Shadeland Avenue around 4:15 p.m. and ordered him from the car. Instead, Chitwood said, the suspect shifted his vehicle into reverse and struck the side of the marked police car.
UPDATE: In the fourth video below, you’ll be able to hear the police dispatch communication in the minute leading up to his death, including the moment they fired shots. At slightly before the 1:15 mark, police say they are initiating the stop. At 1:40, they announce “shots fired.”