The state has reached a settlement agreement with the estate of a 42-year-old Richland woman over her fatal shooting in March 2020 by Pennsylvania State Police troopers.
Charity Thome of Richland was shot on March 16, 2020, by PSP troopers Jay Splain and Matthew Haber after a high-speed, early-morning vehicular chase that began at a home along Heilmandale Road in North Lebanon Township and ended in a field along King Street in Jackson Township.
In November 2020, the Thome estate filed a federal civil lawsuit against Splain and Haber and the Pennsylvania State Police, alleging they were not justified in using deadly force against Thome.
Benjamin Present, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based injury law firm Kline & Specter, said the Thome estate will receive a tentative settlement of $1.25 million, although the amount must be approved in federal court before it becomes official. That paperwork had not been filed as of publication.
Present told LebTown in an exclusive interview that the settlement agreement between the state and the estate was reached in late May and avoids a trial in federal court in Harrisburg that had been set to begin on July 1 with jury selection.
“This moment is more bitter than it is sweet for the Thome family,” said Present during a telephone interview. “There’s no amount of money that will bring back the mother, the daughter, the aunt, the cousin who was needlessly gunned down in March 2020. But the settlement is substantial compensation and it is fair compensation and it brings a hard-fought litigation to a close.”
Read More: Charity L. Thome (1977-2020)
Lt. Adam Reed, PSP director of communications, told LebTown via email that $1 million of the settlement amount is coming from the department’s budget and that there are no other terms that are part of the agreement.
LebTown followed up with Reed concerning the funding source of the other $250,000, but had not received a response to that enquiry as of publication. Also unclear is the settlement breakdown for her wrongful death and survival claims. Present said Thome has two children who are “young adults.”
When someone dies due to the negligent or intentional action of another, there are two types of claims that may be brought under Pennsylvania law: “wrongful death” and “survival.” Wrongful death claims cover losses suffered by dependent spouses, children, and parents due to their relative’s death. Survival claims cover losses the decedent could have claimed had she survived, such as pain and suffering if death wasn’t immediate, medical bills, and past and future wage loss. Pennsylvania law requires court approval of wrongful death and survival claims.
Plaintiff Derek Thome, acting on behalf of his aunt’s estate, had requested $5 million for “pain and suffering, emotional distress, mental anguish, and sense of impending death” in the moments before Thome died from several gunshot wounds, according to court documents. Court documents stated Thome was struck by seven of nine bullets that were shot into her car after it had been forced into the field along King Street following a vehicle immobilization maneuver by state police.
Court documents filed in October 2023 stated the Thome estate also requested between $213,753 and $997,584 for past and future lost earning potential, as explained in a report compiled by David L. Hopkins, an actuarial economist based in southeastern Pennsylvania. Hopkins was expected to testify at the trial about his report as an expert witness.
That request means the Thome estate had sought between $5.2 and nearly $6 million in the civil lawsuit. The state noted in court documents that the troopers’ actions occurred while on duty and that they were not liable to a civil lawsuit as government employees.
As first reported by The New York Times, the Thome shooting was the third of four fatal shootings by Splain over the course of 15 years, including two in Lebanon County that occurred over an 18-month period.
The first fatal shooting occurred in Lehigh County in 2007, the second in Northampton County in 2017, and the third involved Thome in Jackson Township.
In November 2021, Splain’s fourth fatal shooting was 40-year-old Jonestown resident Andrew Dzwonchyk at the home of his girlfriend’s mother in Union Township.
Read More: Andy J. Dzwonchyk Jr. (1981-2021)
A $1.75 million settlement in a federal civil lawsuit filed by the Philadelphia civil rights law firm Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing and Feinberg over Dzwonchyk’s death was reached with the state on Sept. 1, 2022, three days after Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf cleared Splain of any criminal wrongdoing.
Hess Graf also cleared Splain in the Thome shooting. Splain’s supervisor at the PSP barracks in Jonestown at that time was Hess Graf’s husband, Christopher Graf.
The Lebanon County branch of the NAACP filed an ethics complaint in February 2022 against Hess Graf over her investigations into the Thome shooting.
Read More:
- DA discusses details, process that led to justified shooting finding in Thome death
- NAACP files complaint against DA over investigation of fatal PSP shootings
- DA discloses ‘private reprimand’ over conflict in Thome shooting investigation
Hess Graf announced on July 18, 2023, that the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania had issued a private reprimand over her handling of an investigation into the Thome shooting by state troopers. The Disciplinary Board of the state Supreme Court handles complaints by clients and the public against attorneys.
LebTown reported that in her July 18 statement (PDF) Hess Graf had said that her husband was not a material witness, was not on duty on the night of the shooting and played no role in the incident.
“We followed our policy and believed it proper to do so,” said Hess Graf in the statement.
Hess Graf said that “after a year and half back and forth” the Disciplinary Board ultimately found that she should not have handled the shooting investigation because her husband worked out of the same barracks as the trooper who used deadly force.
“In hindsight, I can understand the public scrutiny and the Board’s decision, though I still stand by the investigation and its outcome,” said Hess Graf. “We accepted the determination.”
Hess Graf also said that neither the Disciplinary Board nor “any other agency” has ever questioned the outcome of the investigation – that the Thome shooting was justified under the law.
LebTown reported in mid-November of 2023 that the 2017 Northampton County shooting of Ardo was settled on July 13 for $125,000, meaning the state has agreed to compensate those three estates a total of $3.125 million.
Earlier that year in a Jan. 26 ruling, a U.S. District Judge Edward Smith of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that Splain and PSP Trooper Eddie Pagan had “violated Ardo’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from excessive force, both in their initial use of deadly force and in Trooper Splain’s continued use of it,” meaning he was rejecting the state’s claim of qualified immunity, according to The Legal Intelligencer, a legal publication.
LebTown asked Reed about Splain’s and Haber’s current employment status with PSP and whether that status would be impacted by the settlement agreement.
Reed’s email response stated, “Tpr. Splain remains employed by PSP with no change to his status since we last communicated.”
LebTown reported on June 1, 2023, that Splain’s administrative duty assignment was as a regional coordinator with PSP’s Member Assistance Program.
Read More: After 4 killings, Splain’s PSP admin duty assignment: Mental health counselor
According to PSP literature, the Member Assistance Program exists to provide confidential assistance to personnel and their immediate family members who are experiencing personal, emotional, psychological, or related medical problems.
Concerning Haber, Reed also wrote, “Tpr. Haber is employed by PSP and his assignment is Patrol Trooper. Settlement agreements do not impact employment status.”
LebTown followed up with Reed asking if there is going to be any internal investigation of Splain’s and Haber’s actions on the day in question, or if the PSP will rely on Hess Graf’s conclusion that their actions were justified. LebTown also asked if PSP considered Thome’s shooting justified.
LebTown had not received a response to these follow-up questions as of publication.
“Four deaths by gunshot by any officer in any police force in any jurisdiction is a staggering figure,” said Present.
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