Police Brutality / Individual record
Phillip Pannell
Sixteen-year-old Phillip Pannell was shot in the back by Teaneck, New Jersey officer Gary Spath on April 10, 1990.
- Record ID
- PB-013
- Incident date
- April 10, 1990
- Date of death
- April 10, 1990
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Teaneck, NJ
- Category
- Police shooting
What happened
After a report about a teenager with a gun, officers pursued Pannell from a schoolyard into a backyard. Spath fired, killing him. Several witnesses described the boy as surrendering or holding his hands up, while Spath said he believed Pannell was reaching for a firearm. A state review identified problems with initial forensic testimony; the killing ignited sustained protests by Pannell's family and local residents.
Investigation & findings
A second grand jury indicted Spath on reckless manslaughter, but a jury acquitted him in February 1992. Pannell's family continued to challenge the shooting.
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- Historical source-derived record, pre-2015
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Published historical compilation of Black people killed in police custody (1999–2014)SAGE journal / cited NAACP LDF memorial listing · 2016 · Secondary scholarly source