Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Feud killing not murder

TENSIONS had reached the boiling point in the rolling hills of Eaglet Lane, where sprawling luxury homes are encased with manicured lawns and professional landscapes.

SEPTA Police Sgt. Darryl Simmons, center, walks with his family to their house. He says he shot and killed Joseph McNair in self-defense. (Michael Perez / Inquirer)
SEPTA Police Sgt. Darryl Simmons, center, walks with his family to their house. He says he shot and killed Joseph McNair in self-defense. (Michael Perez / Inquirer)Read more

TENSIONS had reached the boiling point in the rolling hills of Eaglet Lane, where sprawling luxury homes are encased with manicured lawns and professional landscapes.

On one side was Joseph McNair, 38, a big-time convicted Philadelphia drug dealer with a long rap sheet who made Schwenksville, a bucolic Montgomery County suburb, his hideaway.

On the other were his neighbors wanting peace, saying that McNair terrorized them with threats to kill their families and to sic his three Rottweilers on their children.

The feud came to a head about 7:30 Wednesday night and ended with one neighbor, a seasoned off-duty SEPTA police sergeant, pumping several bullets into McNair, killing him, after McNair allegedly made one final threat.

Darryl Simmons, a 22-year SEPTA veteran who worked Philadelphia's subways, has not been charged with any crime. Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman has not decided whether he will be.

"It is clear that McNair was the neighborhood bully," Ferman said. "He was on a regular basis menacing and threatening to many of his neighbors. He had been threatening to this man [Simmons] many times in the past.

"I have ruled out this being a murder case," she said, explaining that the slaying was not premeditated or committed in malice. "The question now is: Was the shooter legally justified? Did he have a reasonable belief that his life was in jeopardy?"

But McNair's relatives, who interrupted a news conference yesterday called by neighbors, believe that this was a case of a cop getting away with murder.

"They're trying to use [McNair's record] so that they can say the good sergeant, who blew his top, began to shoot recklessly in the public street, shooting a man four times, no charges filed, let loose," the Rev. Lewis Nash, who identified himself as McNair's cousin, said, according to news reports.

About 6:30 Wednesday night, McNair and another neighbor, Kevin Rodzinak, exchanged angry words. McNair jumped out of his car and threatened Rodzinak with his Rottweiler, said Charles Mandracchia, an attorney representing Simmons and Rodzinak.

"McNair was enraged - his eyes were bulging out of his head," Mandracchia said. About an hour later, Simmons, 48, left his house in his BMW to pick up his daughter from soccer practice.

He was on Miller Road and about to make a right turn onto Ott Road, in Perkiomen Township, when he was nearly struck by a gray Pontiac Vibe driven by McNair, he told detectives.

McNair drove by, then reversed his car, got out and began threatening Simmons, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.

"You're not built for this," Simmons said that McNair had told him. "I'll blow you away."

McNair returned to his car, leaned through the open driver's side front door, and it appeared as if "he was going to get something," Simmons told police.

He couldn't see McNair's hands. McNair made a motion to get back out of the car and Simmons told detectives he thought McNair was reaching for a gun. Believing that McNair was going to kill him, Simmons pulled out his .357 Smith & Wesson revolver and shot him repeatedly. He called his wife and then 9-1-1.

About 7:40 p.m., a state trooper found McNair sitting in his car, slumped over the center console, with several wounds to his trunk and one to the face. He was pronounced dead at Pottstown Memorial Medical Center.

Investigators didn't find a weapon in McNair's car, Ferman said.

McNair bought the house on Eaglet Lane in 2006 for $515,000, according to court records. He came with a sordid past. He was no small-time dealer, law-enforcement sources said.

Joseph "Joe Money," McNair moved up the hierarchy in the Andre "Bunchie" King drug organization, according to law-enforcement sources.

King, convicted July 30 in Manhattan federal court as part of a national drug conspiracy, allegedly turned multiple kilos of uncut cocaine over to McNair, who then redistributed it to Philadelphia drug organizations, sources said.

McNair was sentenced in November 1995 to 108 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release in connection with a cocaine conspiracy involving nine defendants.

In December 2004, his supervised release was revoked and he was sent to federal prison for nine months, according to court records.

His rap sheet includes arrests for rape, kidnapping, weapons offenses and even murder. Many cases were dropped or dismissed. In April 2002 he was charged with murder in a domestic case involving a man he thought was having an affair with his common-law wife, but he was acquitted.

Simmons told police that McNair had threatened to kill him, his wife and his children and that he was so concerned, he researched McNair's criminal past.

Simmons reported the threats to police, but no charges were filed, said Mandracchia, his attorney. It was Simmons' word against McNair's, he said.

Rodzinak said that McNair used to keep his three Rottweilers behind a fence. Rodzinak said he had told McNair that he was scared that the dogs could get loose.

One day in December, Rodzinak said, he was outside with his 9-year-old son, and McNair came out of his house and released the dogs in Rodzinak's direction. Rodzinak said he shot and killed one of the dogs, and the others took off.

Rodzinak was charged with simple assault, terroristic threats and disorderly conduct for shooting the dog, Mandracchia said. The charges were dismissed.

An autopsy was done on McNair's body but the results, including toxicology tests and the number of bullets that hit him, were not released yesterday.

D.A. Ferman was untroubled that Simmons had fired repeatedly.

"When someone has a weapon and has made the decision that they have to fire it to defend themselves, they are full of adrenaline and may fire repeatedly," she said.

But Rev. Nash wasn't convinced.

Simmons is "the one who had specific police training. He's the one who's supposed to have a tolerance level," Nash said.

Simmons was back home last night, 24 hours after the deadly confrontation.

"The sergeant is devastated," Mandracchia said. "His whole family is devastated.

"His whole life is unraveling because of a guy who probably should never have been on the street anyway." *