Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele announced that the investigation of the October 24 incident in Plymouth Meeting Township, during which an officer discharged his firearm at Dalton Lee Janiczek, a 21-year-old resident of Lower Gwynedd and a 2022 graduate of La Salle College High School in Wyndmoor (Springfield Township), found that it was a lawful use of force.

On the afternoon of October 24, a Whitpain Township police officer found Janiczek’s vehicle parked at a hotel following reports of erratic driving. Officials said Janiczek put the car in reverse and struck the police car several times. The officer then got out of the car and told Janiczek to stop, and Janiczek responded by driving directly at the officer, attempting to hit him. The officer fired his weapon at the vehicle but was unsuccessful in stopping Janiczek.

Janiczek is then said to have continued accelerating his vehicle and hitting the officer. As the injured officer attempted to apply a tourniquet to a leg wound, the report states that Janiczek returned to where the officer was in the parking lot and struck the officer three additional times as he lay injured on the ground.

According to DA Steele’s recent announcement, Janiczek “had been involved in several incidents in Montgomery and surrounding counties, including one call to 911 where the operator of the Mercedes G63 said he wanted to blow up a police station and harm/kill police officers.”

The officer involved cooperated with the investigation which involved interviews with numerous officers and witnesses. Officials also reviewed police bodycam, dashcam and bystander video, and collected extensive on-scene evidence, the DA said.

“This defendant used his vehicle to attempt to kill a Plymouth Township police officer and left him very seriously injured in a hotel parking lot with numerous bystanders in the area,” said Steele. “The police officer shot at the driver of the vehicle to end the threat to his own life and to end the threat to bystanders in the area. Our investigation determined the facts of this case supported the use of deadly force by the police officer.”

In Pennsylvania, the use of deadly force by a law enforcement officer is governed by Section 508 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code. A law enforcement officer is “justified in using deadly force only when he believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or such other person…” 18 Pa.C.S.A. §508(a). In addition, the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers is justified to defeat…the escape of a person who possesses a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict serious bodily injury unless arrested without delay, the DA said.

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Photo: Montco DA