A judge on Thursday sentenced a white Philadelphia police officer to 11½ to 23 months in prison in the 2017 fatal shooting of an unarmed Black motorist, far less than the decades behind bars he potentially faced.
Officer Eric Ruch Jr. shot and killed 25-year-old Dennis Plowden Jr. six seconds after arriving on the scene as Plowden sat on a sidewalk upon crashing a car during a high-speed chase. He was fired from the department months later.
