Victim’s Wife Was Afraid For Self, Child Nancy Spacek’s Call Saturday To 911 Ended With A Policeman Killing Her Husband Of 13 Years After He Refused To Surrender, Cops Say.

By KYLE S. THOMAS [email protected]
Monday, October 22, 2001 Page: 1A

RICE TWP. – Nancy Spacek said she clutched her 2-year-old daughter Jessica
Marie tightly and watched fearfully as a township police officer fired two
shots at her husband, killing him.

“He was instructed and advised by the officer to surrender and he did
not,” Spacek said on Sunday of her husband of 13 years, Charles R. Spacek
Jr., who died Saturday night at Mercy Hospital in Wilkes-Barre. “He just came
out of the house with a weapon drawn, and this was the result.”
Moments before the shooting, Spacek said her husband was forceful and
started destroying a wall of their 115 Pine View Estate home.

“My husband has been depressed for a while and has chronic back pain and
has been suicidal in the past,” she said. “He’s also damaged property in the
past. I wanted to protect myself and my 2-year-old daughter. So I called the
cops.”

Spacek said her husband worked as a water specialist for the state
Department of Environmental Protection for almost 10 years and commuted from
Luzerne County to Harrisburg on a daily basis.

“He was really into conserving the environment. It was one of his beliefs,
and he was active in it,” she said.

She said her husband would occasionally write letters to the editor to area
newspapers about evolution and environmental issues, and at one point in his
life was heavily involved with The Audubon Society.

With her daughter crying and the chatter of family members in the
background, Spacek explained that it’s been difficult to deal with her husband
being gone.

“It’s just hard to tell you ... I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve just been
talking to family and friends for support now.”

Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas said a Rice Township police
officer arrived at the Spacek home located along a narrow, private lane off
Church Road, about a mile east of the Rice Township Municipal Building, at
about 5:19 p.m. Saturday in response to a domestic disturbance report.

Lupas said police were summoned to the house previously for similar
problems.

When the officer arrived and opened the white picket fence that surrounds
the blue-colored house, Lupas said Charles R. Spacek Jr. pointed a handgun
directly at the officer, refused to put it down and walked toward the officer.

Lupas said Luzerne County Coroner George Hudock will conduct an autopsy
today at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.

Rice Township police directed all questions to Hazleton state police, who
deferred all comments to the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office. Lupas’
office is continuing the investigation.

Authorities have not yet made an official statement.

“It will be a couple of days before we have a formal ruling,” Lupas said
when reached at his home Sunday night.

“Preliminary indications show there’s nothing to show that (the officer)
did anything but act appropriately for his own safety and the victim’s wife
and child,” Lupas said. “The deceased was given numerous warnings to back
off and drop his weapon and he didn’t, which means the officer was left with
no choice but to discharge his weapon.”

Lupas said the Rice Township officer’s name is currently being withheld,
and that he will be placed on a paid leave of absence and receive counseling.

On Sunday, neighbors were shocked at the events.

“I never heard a thing,” said 49-year-old Martin Wentz, who lives next
door to the Spacek home. “My kitchen faces their house and I never heard
anything. No arguing whatsoever, except for their daughter crying and music
from their stereo.”

Wentz described Charles R. Spacek Jr. as a nice guy to talk with and a good
neighbor.

“We’ve never had a problem or disagreement, we would talk while we were
doing yard work and speak whenever we saw each other,” Wentz said.

David and Wendy Fenwick recently moved to Pine View Estates from
Wilkes-Barre and were surprised by Saturday’s shooting.

“I guess everybody is more aware now in light of the country’s problems
and reacts quickly now,” David Fenwick said. “I’m just shocked because I
thought I was moving away from it, but hopefully this was an isolated
situation.”

Kyle S. Thomas, a Times Leader staff writer, can be reached at 829-7219.