Many prices dismissed, dropped in civil rights march conflict in Bedford County final 12 months

The judge dismissed the most serious charges against a man accused of shooting and killing a civil rights activist while confronting a group of protesters.

• The Associated Press

  The Associated Press (AP) is a US-based not-for-profit news agency based in New York City.

June 14, 2021 | 5:12 am

(Bedford) – A judge dismissed the gravest charge against a man accused of gunning down a civil rights activist during a confrontation in rural Pennsylvania with a group of protesters en route from Milwaukee to Washington DC last summer.

Bedford District Judge H. Cyril Bingham dismissed the aggravated assault charges and multiple charges of minor assault against 52-year-old Terry Myers after a five-hour preliminary hearing last week. District Attorney Lesley Childers-Potts withdrew charges of criminal mischief and other simple assault and reckless endangerment.

The judge ruled Myers should face seven other negligent endangerment charges and one harassment charge in the shooting of Orsino Thurman, 37, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jan.

Amanda Mills / For Spotlight PA

Civil rights demonstrators on a trip from Milwaukee to Washington, DC are seen here in Youngstown, Ohio.

“There’s a sense of relief that the most serious charges have gone, but there’s some disappointment that they haven’t all been dismissed,” Defense attorney Matt Zatko said, according to The (Johnstown) Tribune-Democrat. He claimed that his client fired in self-defense.

Thurman, who failed to appear for the hearing, faces charges of simple assault and frivolous endangerment, as well as illegal possession of weapons.

The group of around 20 set out on a 745-mile march from Milwaukee to the country’s capital in early August 2020 to mark the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech” to celebrate. On late August 24, 2020, the group stopped along rural Route 30 in Bedford County near the tow shop and home of Myers’ father who saw them outside and yelled at them to leave. According to the police, there was no evidence of hearing him.

A state police affidavit said Terry Myers had arrived and shot twice in the air with a shotgun, then scanned and shot the crowd with his gun after seeing two bolts of lightning struck Thurman in the face, The Tribune-Democrat reported . Then two pistol shots rang out and Myers responded with another explosion, police said, citing footage they had reviewed. Thurman was taped moments later and said that Myers “shot me with the shot. I hit him too, ”the report said.