The parents of the 18-year-old who was shot and killed by a Pennsylvania State Police trooper on I-95 speak out for the first time asking for proof that their son was doing what police have said. They said what he’s being accused of is “unbelievable.”
The mother and father of 18-year-old Anthony Allegrini Jr., a teenager who was shot and killed by state police after he allegedly hit two troopers with his car on I-95 on Sunday, June 4, sat down for an interview for the first time.
His parents said they recently watched the video of the events that occurred leading up to their son being shot on the highway and say that their son wouldn't have done what police are accusing him of and called the incident “inhumane” and “catastrophic.”
Investigators said Allegrini Jr. of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, attended an unruly car meet early Sunday morning in which part of I-95 southbound was blocked off as a large crowd watched drivers drag race and do "burnouts" and "donuts" in the middle of the highway.
Police Captain Gerard McShea said two state troopers arrived to break up a gathering on I-95 southbound at mile marker 21 near Penn’s Landing when they saw four people get into a black Audi with Allegrini behind the wheel.
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The two troopers then drove their vehicle in front of Allegrini's car and got out on foot and told Allegrini to yield, which he failed to do and continued driving. He then hit the two troopers with his car, according to investigators.
"One trooper then discharged his service pistol through the front windshield and struck Allegrini who was seated in the driver's seat," said McShea.
Police dash camera video and cellphone video are a part of the evidence in the investigation into what took place on the highway and one video claims to show Allegrini Jr. on the ground, away from his car, still moving, but with no one rendering aid.
“Can’t believe how inhumane of an act and just how catastrophic that was to see and watch nothing happen. No help, no aid, no anything…just like it was a raccoon that got run over on the side of the road,” Anthony’s father, Anthony Allegrini Sr., said about his son being shot by police.
When police were asked about whether that was protocol for when a suspect is shot, to pull them from the car and not give them aid, McShea replied, “I can’t get into this specific incident.”
“We want the truth to come out,” Allegrini Sr. said. “He’s a kind soul that would have never done anything.”
“I want everyone to know he isn’t what they're portraying him to be,” Allegrini Jr.’s mother, Jennifer Allegrini, said. “He would not intentionally hurt anyone.”
The family’s attorney Enrique Latoison disputed the fact that Anthony was in any way involved in the car meet that blocked I-95.
"This was not somebody that was involved with doing donuts in the middle of Philadelphia," Latoison said. "He was not involved with blocking 95. He was a spectator in this event."
There have also been some disputes about where Anthony was when he was shot. Reagan Hocking, Anthony’s girlfriend, spoke with NBC10 and said that he was outside the vehicle when he was shot, not inside like investigators said.
State Police did not respond to Hocking's comments but investigators are standing by their statement that Allegrini was inside the car when he was shot.
When asked what their end goal is for speaking out, Anthony’s parents said that they don’t want this to happen to anyone else’s child.
“This can’t keep happening. There has to be a big change and maybe this is the start of something positive,” Anthony Sr. said.
