CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Sky guard Skylar Diggins has been ruled out for the rest of the season because of a right knee injury.
Diggins hasn't played since she scored 19 points in a 98-90 loss at Las Vegas on July 3. Chicago (15-25) was eliminated from playoff contention on Aug. 23. It has four games left when the WNBA returns from its break for the FIBA World Cup.
Diggins, a South Bend, Indiana, native who turned 36 on Aug. 2, had knee surgery in October. The former Notre Dame star aggravated the injury early in the season.
“When the team was on the road, I was going back to Notre Dame to do (physical therapy) on my knee and rehab on my knee, and it started being a more aggressive program really early,” Diggins said Tuesday. “Trying to get everything I needed to deal with dealt with. And after we reevaluated with our doctors here, my team, medical team at Notre Dame, we just decided that to scale back and to shut it down for the season.”
General manager Jeff Pagliocca said the team is prioritizing Diggins' health.
“Skylar made a strong effort to get back to the court this season," Pagliocca said in a statement. "She’s been in constant communication with us through the entire process.”
Diggins signed with Chicago on the first day of free agency in April. She averaged 14.2 points and 4.9 assists during a rocky season with the Sky.
Following a June 7 loss at Toronto, Diggins called for more leadership and maturity from players and coaches. When coach Tyler Marsh made plans to use the seven-time All-Star as a reserve, Diggins posted on Instagram about her frustration with the decision.
The lingering injury sidelined Diggins before she could play in a reserve role with Chicago. She started each of her 19 games this season.
Asked if the decision to move her to the bench played a role in the shift from continuing to play to a focus on rehabbing, Diggins called the situation “extremely layered.”
“I think the primary focus with that is that I had been playing through a lot, you know, out there,” Diggins said. “Obviously, we had already been doing testing well before that road trip. I was very limited in practice. I was limited in shootarounds. I was supposed to be on minutes restriction even before that road trip. ... I hadn’t been feeling like myself out there.”
Diggins also has expressed frustration with delays in the construction of a practice facility for the Sky. It was supposed to be ready ahead of this season, but it isn’t expected to be finished until November now.
“That would be the biggest frustration with this season,” she said. “Just never feeling like we had a home base with that.”
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FILE - Chicago Sky guard Skylar Diggins plays during a WNBA basketball game against the Portland Fire in Portland, Ore., May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman, File)
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania police officer was charged Tuesday with voluntary manslaughter for last week’s fatal shooting of a college student who was looking for his friends late at night and went to the wrong house.
Police body camera video reviewed by investigators shows the officer yelled “Drop to the ground,” then “Stop or I’ll... .” Before he finished the sentence, he fired two shots at the man who was unarmed and had his hands in the air. He hit 22-year-old Glenwood Earl Pysher IV twice in the chest, killing him.
The officer, Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell, had less-than-lethal options and did not need to resort to shooting Pysher, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said at a news conference.
“The investigation found that Cpl. Farrell had less-than-lethal options on his utility belt that he did not employ, including a taser. At the time of the shooting, the officer was a safe distance from Pysher behind a car, and the victim had his hands in the air and did not possess any type of weapon. Mr. Pysher was not a threat. This is not a legal use of deadly force, leading to the charge of Voluntary Manslaughter,” Steele said in a news release.
An attorney for Pysher's family issued a statement thanking the prosecutor.
“The family is grateful for the work of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office and they are looking forward to justice in this horribly tragic, preventable and reckless conduct that took the life of their son,” said attorney Ken Fulginiti.
Farrell turned himself in to the Montgomery County Detectives on Tuesday. Magisterial District Judge Kathleen Rebar set bail at $75,000, and Farrell must turn in all weapons to the state police as a condition of his release, a spokesperson for the district attorney's office said. He has a preliminary hearing set for Sept. 10.
Farrell was the first officer on the scene after a resident called 911 to report someone trying to break into the back door of a home. Farrell’s body-worn camera showed the officer walking down the driveway with his gun drawn, using its light to illuminate the way, the release says.
Standing behind a car in the driveway, Farrell saw Pysher on the home’s patio, near the back door. Farrell yelled, “Police, let me see your hands.” Then he yelled, “Hands up, hands up now, drop to the ground.”
Pysher is seen on video raising his hands as he began walking toward the officer and continuing to walk in that direction as the officer yelled, “Drop to the ground,” the release said. Farrell again yelled, “Drop to the ground,” then yelled, “Stop or I'll …” But before he finished the sentence, Farrell fired two shots, hitting Pysher twice in the chest, the district attorney's office said.
Pysher was 17 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) from the officer when he was shot, the release says.
Farrell told another officer who arrived after the shooting that Pysher had charged him, “screaming and yelling and wouldn't get down on the ground,” but the body-worn camera video doesn't show that happening, according to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.
The investigation found that Pysher had been out at several bars earlier in the evening to celebrate a friend's 21st birthday. A designated driver drove the group to the home of the person whose birthday it was around 11 p.m., and Pysher left about half an hour later to walk half a mile to another friend's house to keep drinking but ended up at the wrong house, the release says.
Pysher's father has said he believes, based on what his son's friends have told him, that his son tried to enter what he thought was his friend's house.
“He tried to open the doorknob and obviously startled the homeowner,” Glen Pysher told The Associated Press last week. “From what we understand, he announced, ‘Hey! Open the door!’ because he thought he was at his friend’s house.”
His son then sat down on the back porch and contacted his friends, who realized he was in the wrong place and set out to find him, the father said.
Bowling Green State University criminal justice professor Philip Stinson maintains a nationwide database of roughly 25,000 cases of police officers arrested since 2005.
According to Stinson’s data, 218 local sworn police officers had been charged with murder or manslaughter in an on-duty fatal police shooting between January 2005 and the end of July 2026. There are several cases still pending, but to date, 78 officers have been convicted of a crime in those shootings, while 107 have been acquitted or had their cases dismissed.
In Pennsylvania, 10 officers had been charged in that time, six of whom were convicted.
Stinson said there are fluctuations in the number of officers charged over the years, but given there are close to a thousand fatal police encounters every year, those fluctuations seem statistically insignificant.
“These are ugly cases. The facts are never easy,” Stinson said. “Grand juries seem to have a similar issue as criminal jurors. They are very reluctant to second guess the split-second, often life or death decisions of an on-duty police officer in a potentially violent street encounter.”
The majority of officers charged in on-duty fatal shootings shot an unarmed person. In the 78 convictions, only 10 of the victims were armed with a gun at the time of the shootings.
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Brumback reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed.
This image from body camera video released by the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office shows Glenwood Earl Pysher IV seconds before he was shot on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, in Norristown, Pa. (Montgomery County District Attorney's Office via AP)
This booking photo provided by the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, shows Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell. (Montgomery County District Attorney's Office via AP)
Mourners gather to pay their respects to Glenwood "Bubba" Pysher IV who was killed earlier by police in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Mourners gather to pay their respects to Glenwood "Bubba" Pysher IV who was killed earlier by police in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Pallbearers carry a casket containing the remains of Glenwood "Bubba" Pysher IV who was killed by police in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Glenwood Pysher III, watches as pallbearers carry a casket containing the remains of his son Glenwood "Bubba" Pysher IV who was killed by police, in Pottstown, Pa., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
