Police sergeant lied about being shot by black man

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Sgt. Robert Ralston, 46, confessed to making up the story and will have to pay the costs of the massive manhunt that followed, Commissioner Charles Ramsey said...

TheGrio Staff

May 11, 2010

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A white city police sergeant made up a story about being shot by a black man while on patrol last month and actually intentionally shot himself for unknown reasons, Philadelphia’s police commissioner said Tuesday.

Sgt. Robert Ralston, 46, confessed to making up the story and will have to pay the costs of the massive manhunt that followed, Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.

Ralston has been suspended from the police force with intent to dismiss, but will not face criminal charges because granting immunity was the only way to obtain his confession, Ramsey said at a news conference.

The case was especially troubling, Ramsey said, because Ralston identified his supposed attacker as black. When Ralston confessed Tuesday, he said he made the claim so his story would be more believable, Ramsey said.

“He wanted the story to be consistent with the environment he was in,” a largely African-American neighborhood, Ramsey said. “I am troubled by this whole situation. … He violated the trust the people have given him.”

The commissioner said investigators aren’t really sure why Ralston intentionally shot himself.

Ralston had been on the force more 21 years.