Newport News Police Officers Albin Pearson and Dwight Pitterson have been charged for the 2019 killing of Henry Berry. Pearson is charged with second degree murder for shooting and killing Berry. Pitterson is charged with malicious wounding for using a stun gun on Berry.
Police say that Berry made several false calls to 911 that day. When officers tried to arrest Berry he resisted, was shot with a stun gun, took the stun gun away, shot officer Pearson with the stun gun, and then Pearson shot Berry with a real gun. Some people might consider that to be self defense and we would agree if it were not for the circumstances leading up to Berry tasing Pearson. Berry had recently been hospitalized for symptoms of schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder, so he was known to the police to be mentally ill. They should have responded to his false 911 calls by offering him help and not trying to arrest him for making false reports to 911.
Berry's false reports accused his son's mother of kidnapping him. When officers contacted the mother, she told them that Berry had just been in the hospital for a mental health crisis and probably did not remember that a judge had given her custody of the boy just 10 days earlier. Berry had custody of his son for over 7 years before that hearing. A proper investigation would have found that Berry did not knowingly make false statements to 911. A proper investigation would have concluded with the finding that a mentally ill man unknowingly gave 911 false information due to his illness. The appropriate response to something like that is psychiatric help and not a criminal charge.
When dealing with a mentally ill person that is unarmed it is not appropriate for an officer to use a stun gun. That is especially the case when the subject is outnumbered. If any force was needed at all to get him the help he needed then they should have relied on their numbers and skills to subdue him without a taser. When Berry took the taser and used it on Pearson he did not need to shoot him. A taser is usually a non-lethal weapon, Pearson had a taser of his own, and the officers far outnumbered Berry. That is why Pitterson committed the crime of malicious wounding by tasing Berry in the first place. As an accessory to the crime of malicious wounding, Pearson did not have the right to defend himself using deadly force. Under the self defense statutes in the state of Virginia, "if you were at fault or had provoked the aggressor, you are required to retreat as far as safely possible before using deadly force." (https://www.tmwilsonlaw.com/criminal-law/self-defense).
Public records contain the following information about officers Pearson and Pitterson:
ALBIN TREVOR PEARSON
Last Known Home Address:
108 EGRET CT
NEWPORT NEWS, VA 23608-1781
Prior Criminal Charges:
UNDERAGE POSS OF ALCOHOL
2005
IMP TURN
2007
46.2-846 IMP TURN
2007
RECKLESS DIP IMP TURN 30
2007
DWIGHT A PITTERSON
Last Known Home Address:
345 SAINT THOMAS DR APT F
NEWPORT NEWS, VA 23606-4311
Prior Criminal Charges:
TRAFFIC / SPEEDING, 10 MPH OR ...
2011
FAIL TO OBY TRF SIGNAL REDLIG
2015
EXP REG
2014
FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY
2011
FAIL OBEY HIGHWAY LANE MARKING...
2011
We are posting the above public records so that their neighbors and associates know that there are dangerous people in their area. Please do not use this information for malicious purposes.