02/03
   PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A grand jury has recommended that a police
sergeant be charged with manslaughter for shooting an armed man 11
times in the back. The panel said Tuesday there had been a breakdown
in police procedures in the June 26 shooting of Charles Matthews,
54, and recommended several changes.
   Sgt. Anthony Brasten should be charged with voluntary and
involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person,
the grand jury recommended. It didn't recommend charges against
other officers.
   Police first said officers opened fire -- firing at least 85
shots -- after Matthews shot one of them in the hand. But the grand
jury said Matthews' gun wasn't loaded. It said the officer had been
shot by another policeman.
   Brasten's lawyer, Mark Gottlieb, argued Tuesday that the shooting
was justified because Brasten believed Matthews had shot an officer.
   A spokeswoman for the police department said she hadn't seen the
recommendations and couldn't comment on them. Bill Davol, a
spokesman for the district attorney, said he was prohibited by law
from commenting.
   The shooting began after Matthews threatened to kill a teen-age
neighbor if he ever caught her with drugs, authorities said. The
teen-ager's mother called police and officers visited Matthews'
home.
   The man came to the door with a gun, authorities said. When
ordered to drop it, he responded, "What gun, I don't have a gun,
young man." An autopsy showed he had been drinking heavily.
   After Officer Derrick Lyles was shot in the hand, officers behind
him began shooting. Capt. John McGinnis arrived and ordered police
to hold their fire, but Brasten ran up to the door and shot Matthews
11 times in the back, the grand jury said.
   The panel recommended tactical training courses for all officers,
improved police radio communication, and efforts to strengthen the
chain of command.
   It also recommended bullhorns for supervisors. Once the shooting
began outside his house, the grand jury noted, no effort was made to
communicate with Matthews.