BALTIMORE — Two Baltimore County Police officers have been cleared of wrongdoing for their involvement in a May 4 deadly shooting.
That afternoon officers Eric Pellegrino and Derrick Manning shot and killed 39-year-old Ralph Picarello III, after he lunged at them with a knife and carving fork.
The officers were initially called to a home on Boundbrook Way in Essex, where Picarello had allegedly been threatening and throwing things at family members.
When Pellegrino and Manning arrived on scene, Picarello said he was mad about missing a morning drug program and was in need of methadone because he was going through withdrawl.
Family members told the officers about Picarello previously putting a knife to himself and his own father.
The officers spoke to Picarello for about six minutes, trying to get him to voluntarily go to a hospital for treatment.
He refused.
According to an investigative report from the Maryland Attorney General's Office, Picarello told officers “Don’t come near me, If anybody touches me, I will go into defense mode.”
When Pellegrino and Manning told Picarello he had to go with them to the hospital, he picked up two knives and a carving fork from the kitchen floor.
He then moved in towards the officers, which was captured on their body worn cameras.
RELATED: Body worn camera footage shows what led police to kill man wielding a knife in Essex
After yelling nine times for Picarello to drop the knife, Pellegrino and Manning fired a combined four shots, killing Picarello.
On September 8, the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office decided not to prosecute the officers. The Attorney General's report also indicated that charges would have been difficult to prove in court.
