Fired State College police officer accused of ‘cowboy justice’ now faces civil right violations
A former State College police officer once described by an arbitrator as someone who used rogue, lone wolf tendencies to pursue cowboy justice was accused in a federal lawsuit filed last month of civil rights violations.
Joseph Scharf, who now works for the Johnstown Police Department, has spent more than a year fighting to get his job back in Happy Valley. State College doled out more than $86,000 in legal costs as of June, borough spokesperson Kayla Lafferty wrote in an email, in an attempt to keep off the force.
Scharf and a former Johnstown police officer were trying to arrest Shannon P. Greene, 41, during a March traffic stop on an outstanding warrant for aggravated assault. Greene, according to court documents, was a back seat passenger.
The officers did not stop the vehicle because of a traffic violation. A caller reported someone yelled twice that they had a gun, Scharf wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
Scharf opened Greene’s door and attempted to take him into custody. A scuffle ensued for more than a minute.
Scharf alleged Greene attempted to pull his arms away and refused to listen to commands. Greene wrote in his 12-page lawsuit that Scharf punched him in the face and back of the head several times, as well as strangled him until he was nearly unconscious.
Scharf took Greene to the ground, where he was handcuffed. Greene was accused of carrying four knives, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
The arrest was captured by the police department’s dashcam and the officers’ body cameras, in addition to bystander video, Greene wrote.
The arrest left Greene with bruising, a laceration on his forehead, a chipped tooth and a concussion. He’s seeking $1.2 million for “physical damages that could be a lifelong (hindrance) toward gainful employment.”
“Virtually all of these are ongoing, especially the headaches and mental anguish,” Greene wrote in the June 15 filing.
Greene was charged with five misdemeanors, including one count each of possession of an offensive weapon and resisting arrest. He’s detained at the Cambria County Prison. His bail was set at 10% of $30,000.
Cambria County Assistant Public Defender Kimberly Feist, who represents Greene in his pending prosecution, declined comment. He does not have an attorney that represents him in the lawsuit.
No attorney was listed for either Scharf, his fellow officer or the police department. City Manager Ethan Imhoff confirmed Scharf is still employed by the police department, but declined further comment.
Scharf was fired by State College in December 2020. He was chased a vehicle at excessive speeds, failed to promptly report another high-speed chase and deployed pepper spray into the driver’s side window of a moving vehicle.
Borough Manager Tom Fountaine, who approved Scharf’s firing, testified during an April 2021 arbitration hearing that the use of force was “extraordinarily dangerous” and “uncalled for.”
Arbitrator Kathleen Jones Spilker, who ruled that Scharf must be reinstated as a State College police officer, did not dispute the allegations against Scharf. She even wrote it was understandable for police Chief John Gardner to recommend termination.
“A reasonable person in the place of an arbitrator could justifiably recoil in disgust and horror at his admitted conduct,” Spilker wrote. “One has but to put oneself in the place of an innocent bystander who may have been injured or killed because of the grievant’s hijinks. He was pursuing cowboy justice, without proper regard for the possible consequences.”
But she concluded Gardner and Fountaine considered past incidents that were not deliberated by the police department’s Internal Affairs Board, afoul of borough regulations.
The borough appealed Spilker’s ruling, but it was upheld in June by Centre County Judge Brian Marshall. He was tasked with deciding whether Spilker acted outside her jurisdiction or exceeded her authority in ordering Scharf’s reinstatement, but found she did neither.
The borough filed a second appeal, which is pending before the state Commonwealth Court.
This story was originally published July 28, 2022 at 2:34 PM.