2 guilty of helping man before cop killing

2 guilty of helping man before cop killing

GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Two women have pleaded guilty to helping a western Pennsylvania fugitive in the days before he fatally shot a police officer.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports 39-year-old Nicole Walters and her niece, 25-year-old Amanda Walters, both of Lower Burrell, pleaded guilty Thursday to hindering apprehension and conspiracy. They’ll be sentenced in about three months.

Amanda Walters was the ex-girlfriend of 33-year-old Charles Post who shot Lower Burrell Officer Derek Kotecki when he arrived to arrest Post at a Dairy Queen on Oct. 12, 2011.

Post was wanted for another shooting 10 days earlier. Westmoreland County prosecutors say the women gave him food, money, clothes and a cellphone while Post eluded police, during which time he called police threatening to kill an officer.

Attorneys for the women say they were sorry but couldn’t have foreseen Kotecki’s death.