Road rage or self-defense? Jury weighs claims in killing of off-duty Oakdale cop

Kevin McSwiggen told a jury Thursday that he never intended to shoot the man he claimed cut him off in traffic two years ago.

Instead, he testified, he followed Charles “Chuckie” Stipetich to his Blawnox home to talk to him about his driving to help keep others on the road safe.

“I figured I would say something to him because of the reckless nature of his driving,” McSwiggen said from the witness stand. “I knew he almost caused multiple accidents.”

But when McSwiggen pulled behind Stipetich’s Ford Taurus the night of July 3, 2022, video from his dashboard camera shows him immediately begin shouting expletives at the 23-year-old, part-time Oakdale police officer, who was off duty.

And 56 seconds later, Stipetich was lying on the street, shot and dying.

On Thursday, McSwiggen, who is charged with criminal homicide and reckless endangerment, spent just over two hours on the witness stand in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, claiming self-defense.

Prosecutors are seeking a conviction for first-degree murder, alleging that McSwiggen intentionally, and with premeditation, killed Stipetich that night.

But the defense argued the shooting was in self-defense, and that the jury should find McSwiggen not guilty of all charges, including third-degree murder, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

Following closing arguments Thursday afternoon, jurors began deliberations.

They are expected to return Friday morning.

McSwiggen was driving on Freeport Road about 10:30 p.m. the night of the incident, when his dashboard camera showed Stipetich merge in front of him from the left lane. Audio from the dashboard camera captured McSwiggen calling the driver in front of him names, honking his horn and then saying he would turn his high beams on to irritate the man.

McSwiggen followed the car 1.2 miles to Fountain Street in Blawnox. Stipetich, who was returning to the home he shared with his parents, got out and started to walk across the street when McSwiggen pulled behind him and confronted him.

As the two men argued, Stipetich’s dad entered the fray, warning McSwiggen his son was a cop.

But during his testimony Thursday, McSwiggen told the jury that he didn’t consider Stipetich’s father to be a threat and waved him off.

“This is between us as two guys and nothing more,” McSwiggen told the jury.

But when the older Stipetich charged at him, that changed, the defendant continued.

The witness testified that Charles Stipetich Sr. put his right hand around McSwiggen’s throat and grabbed his shirt with his left.

“He started hitting me,” McSwiggen said.

Then, he said, the younger Stipetich slammed both men into the car behind them.

It was then, McSwiggen said, that he saw Chuckie Stipetich had a gun on his hip. McSwiggen claimed he felt hands going toward his own gun in the holster on his belt. He feared the men would take it from him.

McSwiggen got his gun out and claimed he pointed it at the ground and fired to scare them away.

“I honestly do not remember pulling the trigger,” he said.

But the weapon fired a near-contact wound into Stipetich’s abdomen.

A few seconds later, Stipetich fired back, striking McSwiggen in the arm, before collapsing to the ground.

McSwiggen testified that he didn’t realize he was shot until he returned to his truck to get a first aid kit to try to help Stipetich. It was then, he said, that he also called 911.

On cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Jimmy Sheets, the prosecutor repeatedly asked McSwiggen why he followed Stipetich in the first place, or why he didn’t disengage at any point along the way.

“I didn’t know where I was, and when he pulled over, I figured he wanted to talk,” McSwiggen said. “I was going to talk to him over his driving.”

Sheets was incredulous.

“Ultimately, what you want this jury to believe, that on July 3, 2022, you were the victim?” Sheets asked.

“I was the person that was getting attacked,” McSwiggen responded.

During closing arguments, defense attorney Casey White said the jury’s entire decision comes down to six seconds that occurred off-screen from the dashboard camera.

Those six missing seconds when the men grappled, White said, would show his client using justifiable deadly force.

McSwiggen did not break the law that night, his attorney said.

“Poor judgment is not illegal. Having an argument on the street about someone’s driving isn’t illegal,” White said. “It’s not a crime to yell at someone for driving like an idiot.”

The first illegal act, he continued, was when Stipetich Sr. charged at his client.

During his interviews with police, Stipetich Sr. said that McSwiggen repeatedly threatened his son, telling him he would kill him.

But the video never shows that, White said, and it doesn’t show McSwiggen reaching for his gun — or the knife he had on a sheath on his belt either.

“That is not true. It’s clear as day on the video,” the defense attorney said.

White told the jury Stipetich Sr. was lying.

“People lie when they know they’ve done something wrong,” White said.

In his closing, White told the jury that it is up to the prosecution to overcome McSwiggen’s claim of self-defense.

“This is not road rage. This is two men having an argument,” he said.

White listed for the jurors the four different homicide charges they could consider in the case: first-degree murder, a deliberate and premeditated killing; third-degree murder, a killing with malice; voluntary manslaughter, in this case the unreasonable belief the killing is justified; and involuntary manslaughter, a killing resulting from a reckless or grossly negligent act.

White said none of those apply to McSwiggen.

“They have to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that he was unjustified to use self-defense,” White said. “They have not met that burden. Do you know why? Because Kevin McSwiggen is innocent of the crimes charged.”

While Deputy District Attorney Lisa Carey said the defendant’s actions that night could fit each type of homicide, she urged the jury to convict him of first-degree murder.

“This defendant’s malice begins to form when the road rage begins,” she said. “How long does it take to cool off? Honking the horn doesn’t satisfy him. Putting his high beams on doesn’t satisfy him.”

Addressing White’s closing argument, Carey took offense, telling the jury that if anyone lied in the case, it was McSwiggen during his testimony.

“There were so many lies we can’t tell whether the defendant is saying it was an accident, the dad did it or it was self-defense,” she said.

She claimed that McSwiggen lied several times, including when he said that Stipetich almost crashed into him twice. The dashboard camera showed no such thing, she said, nor was there any corroborating audio from McSwiggen’s truck.

Even if Stipetich was driving badly, she continued, McSwiggen’s dashboard camera captured his license plate, and he could have just called the police — or stopped at the Blawnox department, which he passed as he followed Stipetich home.

“He thinks he’s above the law,” Carey said. “He could’ve left. No one was trying to stop him from leaving.”