May 19, 2006 By Josh Krysak 3 min read

More than three years after a Uniontown boy was shot and killed by a state police trooper in what was eventually determined to be an accident, one of the original investigators in the case said he has filed suit in Federal Court regarding his termination from the force. Former state police Sgt. James E. Baranowski who said he was one of the incident commanders in the 2002 Christmas Eve shooting death of 12-year-old Michael Ellerbe said in the suit that he never believed some of the testimony by state police Troopers Juan Curry and Samuel Nassan and was excluded from the case.

Further, in the suit filed in Federal Court in Pittsburgh about six months ago, Baranowski alleges that following the Ellerbe case, he was forced out of the state police all together by July of 2003.

Baranowski, who confirmed that the case was filed as well as the general allegations made in the suit, refused to comment specifically on the matter and deferred questions to his attorney Tim O’Brien.

O’Brien could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

And, in a related matter, a federal suit against the troopers brought by Ellerbe’s father, Michael Hickenbottom, remains pending in Federal Court, according to the family’s attorney Joel Sansone.

According to Sansone the original federal case against Nassan and Curry is still proceeding with a possible trial as early as next spring.

“I am not directly involved with former Sgt. Jim Baranowski’s case, but it is closely related to mine, which is still pending,” Sansone said, noting that Thursday the defense attempted to have all expert testimony brought by Sansone in the case dismissed. “The conduct of troopers Nassan and Curry was outrageous and offensive and we have been fighting hammer and tong all along.”

Two years after the fatal shooting, in December 2004, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan closed the case after an extensive investigation citing “insufficient evidence to support filing federal charges.”

In a written statement, Buchanan said, “The evidence in this case indicates that the troopers believed that Michael Ellerbe may have had a gun, and that the trooper who fired the fatal shot believed that Michael Ellerbe had shot his partner first. Although the results of the investigation indicated that both of these beliefs turned out to be erroneous, there was evidence indicating that these beliefs were held in good faith.”

On Dec. 24, 2002, Nassan and Curry were pursuing a stolen SUV when the vehicle crashed and the driver, believed to be Ellerbe, fled on foot.

The troopers chased the boy in an alley along Cleveland Avenue where Curry attempted to scale a fence but fell causing his service revolver to discharge.

Nassan, according to testimony, was behind Curry in the chase and saw Curry fall at the same time as the gunshot and thought he had been shot by Ellerbe.

Nassan then fired on Ellerbe, striking him in the back.

Ellerbe later died at the Uniontown hospital.

In a 2003 coroner’s inquest, a jury ruled the shooting a justifiable homicide.