Author: Tonya

Yesterday’s testimony consisted of two Port Authority officers staffing the Air Train station struck by a bullet from the shooting, and the Crime Scene Unit detective who examined that scene and photographed clothing of Sean Bell and Joseph Guzman, and Detective Isnora’s injuries.

First on was Port Authority Officer John Cea who was on routine patrol on the elevated subway platform of the Air Train, which ran north of Liverpool Street, where the shooting occurred. With him was his partner, Officer Brian Donnelly, who testified after him, a “Red Coat” staffer helping to direct passengers, a Transportation Security Administrator standing near the informational screens, and three civilians.

Around 4:13 a.m. they heard gunfire outside the terminal consisting of a few slow “pop pops” then a rapid round of succession. Cea immediately ran for cover behind a steel wall but Donnelly approached the Southern window to see what was going on. Right then, a bullet went through that window, shattering the glass, some of which lodged in Donnelly’s forehead and face. Donnelly then ran and Cea yelled out at the civilian passengers to “get down.” A man abandoned his suitcase and ran and two women ducked down behind a central informational stand. The Red Coat ran as well, but the TSA officer just stood there, then slowly ducked. A train pulled up and let a couple of customers off. Cea and Donnelly shouted out at them, but couldn’t remember exactly what they said.

After the gunfire, which lasted about 20-30 seconds, ended, Cea and Donnelly got everyone out of the terminal and down to street level, walked down to the street below to see if the officers who’d arrived needed help, then went back to the Air Train station and looked for ballistics evidence. They found a bullet on the floor and a copper bullet smudge on the north side of the platform across from the broken window. Cea put an informational pamphlet over the bullet to preserve it as evidence.

Cea sustained sprains to his left shoulder and wrist, likely when he hit the ground for cover, and was treated at Mary Immaculate Hospital. Donnelly sustained a torn rotator cuff and a sprained lumbar for which he received rehabilitation and surgery and was out of work for a year and four days.

Three surveillance cameras captured the scene. After about an hour-long side-bar, during which the courtroom was cleared and we stood outside in the lobby (likely so the attorneys and judge could decide which bits of the tape would be received into evidence), they showed the tapes on the monitors in court. The second one, showing the south side of the platform, was the most graphic. “Damn!” someone yelled as Donnelly was sprayed by a burst of blown window glass.

In the afternoon, Detective Greg Anzalone from the Crime Scene Unit testified. He recovered the bullet in the hall of the platform that Cea had found, and took measurements of a bullet hole in the window and a copper impact marking on the opposite wall.

His testimony about where he found everything ended up providing the comic relief of the day, which I think we all needed after that insanely long recess. In days of yore they used to have a diagram or photo set up in the courtroom and the witness would walk up to it and mark an X, or a “B” for bullet and “M” for marking or whatever they wanted. With this new technology, everyone — meaning, the witness, judge, each prosecutor, each defense attorney and each defendant — has a computer-generated image on their own computer screen. The witness is supposed to take a stylus and “mark” the area on their little computer screen where they found whatever they found. The marking then shows up on everyone else’s screens and on the large monitors on the wall above the judge for spectators (and I guess for jurors if there were any) to see. So far everyone’s making a little dot so small I don’t see how anyone can see it; I’m sitting in the middle of the courtroom and I certainly can’t. I have to wait for the prosecutor, or whoever is asking the questions, to read into the record where the witness has made the miniscule dot and the judge to okay it, so I know where in the world it is. But I guess the problem is, if the witness points too hard, a big red arrow shines out, and then if it’s not exactly where they intended it and they try it again, or if they accidentally touch the screen again, another big arrow shows and the screen becomes filled with all these crazy arrows and it’s confusing what is where. And one arrow or mark can’t be erased without the whole screen being cleared so, at points, the whole thing has had to be redone before being printed and entered into evidence because of too many confusing markings. Also, I guess it’s hard to make any kind of image other than a dot with the stylus because no one is being told to write anything other than a dot.

Well, Anzalone apparently wasn’t told the rules or how the stylus worked. When told to draw a line and point to the area where he found the bullet hole, he applied so much force he ended up with about four lines, three arrows and a bit dot. Very interesting stick figure. “Oops,” he said. The prosecutor asked him which line he intended to draw, but when that became too confusing, had the screen cleared so he could start again. Same thing happened. People snickered. He looked embarrassed. Immediately after the screen was cleared again, a big bright red arrow showed up on the bottom left corner of the the screen, completely outside of the picture.

“I don’t know, it must be my ring,” he laughed nervously.

“What did you have for lunch today,” Justice Cooperman said with uncharacteristic levity — with an uncharacteristic voice, actually — albeit still completely deadpanned. Everyone laughed including Anzalone. A lot of people, by the way (listen to March 7 “update”) are annoyed the judge isn’t showing more emotion or in some way indicating his thoughts, but this is how judges are supposed to act, like they’re completely objective and simply taking everything in. Unfortunately many don’t but that’s another story…

Anyway, finally Anzalone was able to draw only one line, but then when asked what the measurements were, marked them onto the screen, evidencing just how badly the stylus writes. His numbers looked like that which a two-year-old might make. The judge let them stand. Then, when asked to mark the area where he found the bullet, then the copper marking, he made big loopy red circles, which also resembled something drawn by the average pre-schooler. I really appreciated it though because I could finally see clearly what he was marking. But poor guy — he had no idea what we were all giggling at.

Anyway, Anzalone also examined the two police vehicles involved in the shooting: the Toyota Camry which carried Lieut. Napoli, and the ‘prisoner’ minivan which impacted with Bell’s Altima. From the Camry he recovered two shell casings (discharged when a bullet is fired), one from under the front passenger seat, and one from the rear passenger-side floor. From the prisoner van he recovered two shell casings at the base of the windshield wipers and one in the upper right area of the engine. He had no idea how that shell casing ended up all the way under the engine. Also, in the Camry, he didn’t see a police bubble light, which Napoli had testified he was bent down trying to find when the shots began.

Anzalone was also sent to Mary Immaculate and Jamaica Hospitals to photograph clothing recovered from Joseph Guzman and Sean Bell. The photos were shown on the monitors in court. Bell’s clothing was mostly dark-colored, so the only blood that was visible was on the waistband of his boxer shorts. Anzalone testified that the clothing — a golf shirt, t-shirt, thermal underwear, jeans and leather jacket — all bore ballistics damage and were severly cut by EMS personnel administering emergency care. Mrs. Bell (the mother) briefly left the courtroom at this point.

Guzman’s white t-shirt, light grey overshirt, and jeans did contain visible blood; there were a few large splotches on the right side of both shirts and a few smaller speckles on the left, and there was blood around the waistline and on the left leg of his jeans. His clothing was also severly cut by emergency medical workers. There were about five markers on the middle of the jacket’s right side but it was confusing as to exactly how many potential bullet holes those markers indicated, since some were surrounding a single hole. Somehow, though his vest was made of ordinary fabric, one bullet was caught in the jacket’s right-side collarband and one in the right-side bottom seamline.

Anzalone also took a couple of pictures of Detective Isnora’s right leg, on which there was a red, horizontal abrasion, on his shin area. Isnora had his pants leg rolled up to show the abrasion, but was also pointing to something on the pants, which Anzalone surmised was a marking corresponding with the abrasion. He didn’t examine or photograph the pants, though, so wasn’t sure.

The above was overheard in the ladies room, and was spoken by a woman on her cell phone describing Sean Bell’s car after the shooting. I also thought the car looked like some kind of mechanical intruder attacked by arrowheads, but will get to that in a moment.

It was a L O N G, S L O W day. Only witness — who didn’t even finish his direct testimony — was Detective David Rivera, of the Crime Scene Unit. He arrived on the scene at 6:30 a.m. — so a little over two hours after the shooting — and took approximately 1,987 photos. No, there were really only 80, but it felt like far more because of course Det. Rivera went through each in great detail having his fellow Assistant D.A. zoom in, pan out, etc., in order to show exactly where he found each and every item he saw…

Of course some of the pictures were very disturbing. Most of the ones of Mr. Bell’s car were taken from the passenger side, since that’s where the vast majority of bullets were fired into. Blood covered the front passenger seat. It’s a miracle Joseph Guzman survived (that’s where he was sitting). I really don’t know how he did. There was blood on the driver’s side as well. In the courtroom, the first two rows are reserved for the press, the second two rows for family and friends of Bell and the defendants, and the last several rows are for the general public. Sean’s mother and father sit in the third row and his fiance, Nicole, behind them. When the bloody pictures were shown on the screen, practically the entire first two rows turned around to look at the mother and Nicole. They kept it together though; Mrs. Bell, the mother, sat with her head in her hands, as she often does.

The passenger window of Bell’s Nissan Altima was blown out, glass was all over the front and back seat floors, and the passenger-side door bore a great deal of bullet holes. By the way, the photographs and other pictorial exhibits (diagrams, maps, etc.) are projected onto two large screens hanging on each side of the wall above the judge, for everyone in the courtroom to see. Each defendant, each prosecutor, the judge, and the witness on the witness stand, all have monitors at their desks so that they have an up-close view.

Anyway, one of the things Rivera does in reconstructing a crime scene is to place trajectory markers (which appeared from the picture to be arrows about a foot long) into the bullet holes in the direction from which the shots were fired, which he can determine by the shape of the hole. When he showed a picture he took of the car with all arrows in place, the onslaught of gunfire into it was really driven home. Gasps spread across the courtroom. There were a few arrows in the back of the car, I think one in the driver’s side (where Bell was sitting), and the passenger side looked like a porcupine.

There was also one exit bullet hole in the back driver’s side door. Rivera said it could either have been fired through the passenger side of the car and come through to the other side, or it could have come from being fired within the car. There was damage to the front bumper, inside door panel, trunk, and back bumper of the Altima. There was little damage to the police prisoner van.

There was also ballistic (bullet) damage to a nearby house, as well as to two cars parked in front of it. A bullet had gone through the house’s living room window, located next to a couch, ricocheted around a lamp and ended up in its shade. Regarding the parked cars: a bullet had pierced the rear window of one, passed through a headrest, and exited through its front window. Rivera also found a deformed (fired) bullet near the steering wheel and a bullet fragment on the car’s floor. The other parked car’s rear cargo window had been blown out and a deformed bullet found in its cargo area.

Rivera gave detailed measurements of everything from the lengths and widths of the streets, the distance of the cars from the sides and ends of the streets, and the exact locations of found items. Among those items were a holster and magazine (Detective Isnora’s) near the sidewalk on the passenger side of Bell’s car. Keys, a cell phone, and three baseball caps were recovered from inside the Bell car. Trent Bennefield’s removed clothing was recovered from a grassy area on the sidewalk. From his jacket pockets were an interim driver’s license and a gold mouthpiece. A pendant and chain were found near the clothes as well. Rivera also recovered blood swabs from blood on the ground.

Interestingly, a large plastic bag filled with smaller ziploc bags containing “a green leafy substance” and another smaller plastic bag containing the same were found near a vehicle parked on the side of the street. We’ll find out Monday, according to the D.A. how that relates to the case and what was in the bags.

I didn’t get the exact count, but a great many shell casings (which are discharged when a weapon is fired and a bullet ejected), bullet fragments, and deformed bullets were found on the scene, in or near Bell’s car. I’m sure we’ll get detailed info on which bullets and shell casings came from which gun next week.

The above quote is from Detective Cooper’s attorney, Paul Martin, during cross examination of a witness. (To see all of my posts on this trial, go here, and start at the bottom; for a graphic overview, go here). I call attention to the quote because I find the way I am seeing some of the press cover this trial disturbing. Reporters are not staying around to hear cross examination. They are leaving after direct and running out into the waiting area and calling their offices to report what was said on direct as the testimony from that witness. Often inconsistencies are brought out, problems with the witness’s recollection come to light, the fuller story emerges only on cross.

In this instance, the witness was Sergeant Donald Kipp, who had interviewed officers involved in the shooting at the scene. He’d testified on direct that Det. Cooper told him he didn’t know whether he fired his gun. On cross examination, counselor Martin asked him if he was sure that was what Cooper had told him on the scene, and began taking out some paperwork. Kipp looked down, and said, oh wait, “I’m wrong; Cooper told me he did fire his weapon.” Not an enormous deal, but it does kind of look like the officer’s being evasive if he said he didn’t know whether he fired. At lunch, though, I heard a journalist phoning in to her boss, reading from her notes. Regarding Cooper she said, “Cooper said he didn’t know whether he fired his gun.” And there was no later correction. I see these reporters flying out the doors all the time when direct is over, cell phones in one hand, notes in the other; that’s what she must’ve done. This is why some of the reports are only giving the public half of the picture. In sum, larger point here: what comes out on cross and re-direct and re-cross examination is all part of the trial evidence, press people!!!

Anyway, today’s testimony wasn’t anything tremendously eye-opening, so this post will be much shorter than the last. Officer James Bauman was first on the stand. He arrived at the scene around 4:15 a.m. on 11/25/06. He helped put up crime scene tape and assisted his partner in keeping the scene preserved from a rowdy crowd of about 20 trying to make their way down to where the cars had collided. He accompanied the ambulance that took Guzman to Mary Immaculate Hospital, riding up front. He never heard Guzman say anything. He didn’t know at the time that police were responsible for the shootings and didn’t tell Guzman such. At the hospital, he heard Trent Bennefield yelling while being treated, but couldn’t hear what he was saying.

Next Officer Robert Maloney, the first to arrive on the scene, testified. On his way toward the collision, he passed two officers, who he couldn’t describe, but remembered both wearing police shields. Pursuant to what one told him, he radioed, “2 perps shot” and asked for an ambulance. He escorted the ambulance carrying Sean Bell to Jamaica Hospital where emergency room staff, after removing Bell’s clothes, gave them to him, along with Bell’s wallet and other belongings, which he vouchered (packaged with identifying tags) for safekeeping, later giving them to the crime scene unit. He also vouchered some of Guzman’s clothing that had been removed at the scene.

Sergeant Fred Fisher was called to North Shore Hospital around 5:00 on the morning of the 25th to recover a weapon from an officer who’d been taken there for treatment. At the hospital, he interviewed Officer Carey (who’d been involved in the shooting but wasn’t charged). Carey told Fisher he believed he’d fired three shots. Fisher inspected Carey’s weapon, a Sig Sauer capable of holding 16 rounds, which now held 13 rounds. (According to police procedure, officers’ weapons are fully loaded at the beginning of the tour of duty.) Fisher thus concluded that Carey had indeed fired 3 rounds. Fisher also found Carey fit for duty. The weapon he recovered from Carey was shown to the judge and introduced into evidence.

Next Sergeant Donald Kipp testified that he interviewed, and recovered weapons from, the other officers at the scene. Detective Headley (not charged) told Kipp he didn’t know whether he fired his Smith & Wesson, capable of holding 16 rounds. The weapon now held 15 rounds, so, one shot had been fired from it.

Defendant Detective Oliver told Kipp he fired his Sig Sauer (contradicting what Wheeler had said yesterday) and gave him two empty magazines (each of which can hold 16 bullets). Kipp concluded that Oliver’s weapon had fired 31 rounds. He remembered Oliver wearing his police shield and complaining of ringing in his ears.

Kipp remembered Defendant Detective Isnora telling him he didn’t know whether he fired (also contradicting Wheeler yesterday). His weapon, a Glock 26 off-duty firearm capable of holding 11 rounds, was empty, containing no magazine. Kipp later found an empty magazine on the street, matched it with Isnora’s gun, and concluded that all 11 rounds had been fired. It would have been improper for Isnora to have retrieved the magazine himself from the street, Kipp said, as that would have tainted the crime scene. As far as he could tell, Isnora (allegedly hit by Bell’s car) was able to walk fine.

Regarding defendant Detective Cooper: as I said above, on direct examination, Kipp said Cooper had told him he didn’t know whether he fired his weapon, a Glock 19 capable of holding 16 rounds, 12 of which remained; four fired. On cross, he admitted he’d made a mistake on direct and that Cooper had told him he fired. All weapons went into evidence.

Two weeks earlier, Kipp said, there was a shooting at Kalua Cabaret.

Final witness for today was Detective Ellen Friedman who testified that around 5:30 p.m. on 11/25, she inspected Sean Bell’s car, looking for “traps,” or places in or on the car where items like guns, drugs and money could be hidden. She found no such traps, and no guns. She did see two spent rounds (bullets) — one on the front driver’s seat, the other between the driver’s bottom seat cushion and the center console.

Above is the quote of the day, as it appears. It is from Emergency Medical Technician William Rudnick, paraphrasing Joseph Guzman, one of the men shot in Sean Bell’s car, when Rudnick was helping transport Guzman into the ambulance. (See relevant posts on the trial here). Murmurs abounded in the courtroom when the words were spoken. Part of the prosecution’s theory was that the three men in the car didn’t know the men pointing guns at them were undercover police before the car pulled away, driving into Det. Isnora and hitting the unmarked police van. Instead they saw a random black man holding a gun, sensed danger and tried to flee. If that’s the case, then perhaps Rudnick’s testimony that Guzman said to him, “I can’t believe the police shot my friend,” right after the shooting, undermines that theory. Perhaps so, perhaps not. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Since I didn’t write yesterday about the day’s testimony, I’ll try to be as brief as possible. We first heard from paramedic Lieutenant Elise Hanlon. After receiving a call that a police officer needed assistance, she and her unit, which included emergency medical technician Mark Massa (who testified after her) responded to the scene around 4:20 a.m. There, there were numerous police officers — both uniformed and plainclothes, many civilians and Port Authority officers. Two vehicles — a minivan and an Altima — had collided and emergency workers were removing Guzman from the passenger side of the Altima and placing him onto a stretcher. On the driver’s side of that car, Rudnick was performing CPR on Sean Bell, who was in cardiac arrest. (Throughout the testimony, Sean’s mother held her head in her hands.)

Hamlon, certified in advanced emergency care, took over for Rudnick. After an ambulance took Bell to Jamaica Hospital, Hamlon walked down the street, where Trent Bennefield, the third passenger in the Bell car who was shot as well, was being treated. Lying face down on the ground and rear handcuffed (there were sighs of disbelief in the courtroom on hearing this), Bennefield said he was cold, shot and couldn’t feel his legs. Hamlon directed officers to uncuff him, and other ER workers cut off his jacket and pants in order to treat his wounds, before placing him into the ambulance and taking him to Mary Immaculate Hospital. Since he was yelling and alert, Hanlon didn’t consider Trent’s injuries life threatening. Before the ambulance drove off, a large crowd of people had gathered at the ambulance requesting that he be allowed to speak with his mother on a cell phone. Hanlon directed the workers to allow him to take the call, which they did. Trent’s clothes were left at the scene.

EMT Mark Massa arrived on the scene contemporaneous with Hanlon. He assisted with Bennefield, who had multiple gunshot wounds, including an entry bullet wound to his right calf, exit would to his left calf, and an entry wound to his right upper leg. He removed Bennefield’s clothing in order to better care for the wounds. Despite the wounds, Bennefield wasn’t badly injured and would be able to walk and run on his legs; he was also conversational and could easily answer questions about his address, date of birth, etc. Bennefield was in pain though, saying his legs hurt. He helped transport Bennefield to the hospital. He didn’t know whether Bennefield was sober, but Bennefield did nothing to make him think he wasn’t. At the hospital Bennefield freaked out a bit over the whereabouts of his jacket because there was money “or something” in it.

Next to testify was Anthony South an independent photo-journalist who videotapes newsworthy scenes to sell to TV stations. After receiving the radio call of “shots fired” through his police scanner, he went to the scene, arriving around 4:30 a.m. He saw 3 ambulances and several police vehicles, marked and unmarked. He shot 7 minutes of raw footage altogether. We viewed most of that footage, which was played on two large monitors in the courtroom. The most disturbing parts were of Bennefield lying face down on the ground and being placed on a stretcher, screaming, “stop you’re hurting me, you’re hurting me… owwww, I can’t feel my legs.” He had a large bloody cut on his forehead, which must have been a scrape from the ground.

We also saw on the tape defendant Detective Oliver walking down the street in plainclothes, a badge visibly dangling from his neck, which Mr. South verified.

Mr. South provided the day’s “moment of lightness” when a defense attorney asked him if he believed a large black man shown on the tape, dressed in plainclothes with a pair of handcuffs dangling out the back of his jeans, was an undercover officer. South said yes and counsel asked why. He said slowly, “well, his handcuffs and gun …” The whole courtroom cracked up. South seemed pleased he could provide entertainment.

Finally, a portion of the tape showing shattered glass on the top of the elevated Air Train platform was played but without sound. Actually, before any part of the tape was played there was a big huge sidebar (that’s where the attorneys and judge talk outside of earshot of either jurors or spectators). All side-bars in this trial are by definition “big” and “huge” though because there are about 10,000 attorneys (seriously, there are four prosecutors and a total of five attorneys between the three defendants, for a total of nine), and, when they all approach the judge, first there’s the eardrum-numbing screech of basically 36 chair legs scraping the non-carpeted floor, then with the black-robed judge standing atop his little throne looking down at this flock of besuited men, it’s just a sight…. Anyway, point is, Paul Martin, counsel for defendant Detective Cooper (charged with reckless endangerment for a stray bullet allegedly shot from his gun that ended up on the peopled platform) obviously got the sound excluded from this little portion of the tape, which annoyed the curious layperson in me who wanted to hear what may have been said about that shattered glass, but which the attorney in me well understands would be unreliable hearsay…

Next on was Detective Hispolito Sanchez, who gave very important testimony. Sanchez, 36 years old, is a pretty large, built, tough-looking black man and one of the undercovers that night, assigned to “ghost” defendant Detective Gescard Isnora, who was acting as primary undercover. The ghost’s role is to look after the primary UC, making sure he’s okay as he does his drug or prostitution buy or whatever. Echoing Lieut. Napoli‘s earlier testimony, Sanchez said the team, part of the club initiative, had just been transferred from Chelsea to South Queens one month before the shooting, and there had been discussion at the TAC meeting that night that their initiative may be disbanded or sent back to Manhattan. On the Tuesday before the night of the shooting, November 22, 2006, the team had made two arrests for prostitution and drug sale at Kalua Cabaret. The sales were made by two dancers at the club. The 25th, the night of the shooting, may well have been their last night there. With one more arrest, they knew they may be able to close Kalua down.

Sanchez chose not to bring his police shield, bullet-proof vest, or gun with him into the field — meaning he didn’t have any of those items even in the car. Isnora did bring his gun, vest and badge, but of course left them in the car when he went into the club. After Napoli gave Sanchez the green light, about 1:00 a.m., he left his car, which he’d parked about three blocks from the club, and went in. He preceded Isnora because Isnora had been the undercover on November 22nd and he wanted to make sure neither of the dancers arrested that night were in the club lest Isnora’s cover may be blown. There’s always the risk of an undercover’s “being made,” which could be dangerous.

Once inside, Sanchez noticed that the club was rougher than it had been in the past. There was a rowdy group in the back, touching and grabbing the women. Also, a tough-looking guy gave Sanchez some angry stares as he went up to the back area to look around. Sanchez felt a little uneasy this time around. Sanchez radioed Napoli telling him both that he didn’t see the women from the arrest on the 22nd and about his feelings of uneasiness, being specific about the man giving him angry looks, the rowdiness, and saying that the place was entirely different from last time. He told him that Kalua nevertheless looked “promising” for prostitution busts. I found this testimony interesting because, according to Napoli, the officer who called him (he couldn’t remember which officer that was) said that it didn’t look like there there was much going on in Kalua that night and they may not be able to make any buy and busts. Napoli never said anything about someone feeling uneasy or indicating that the club was more raucous than usual.

Isnora sat down next to Sanchez at the bar. Sanchez warned him of the rowdiness and the mean-looking guy in the back. A couple of dancers approached Isnora and persistently asked him to buy them drinks. He didn’t.
Cooper was sent in about five minutes later. The three UCs sat at the front of the bar.

Sanchez witnessed two fights. In the back of the bar, a woman threw a drink at a man and the man threw his drink back at her. The two were escorted out. Sanchez also saw in the back area a man, who he later learned was Guzman, flailing his arms about and making gestures indicating he was arguing with someone.

Sanchez stepped outside to radio Napoli again, updating him on what was going on; it’s commonplace to keep the field team abreast of what’s happening inside. He didn’t tell Napoli about the fights though since he didn’t consider them significant.

When he returned to the club, Isnora told Sanchez there was a possibility of someone inside possessing a gun. Isnora had been sitting next to a woman who told a black man wearing a white White Sox cap and black jacket that she had had a problem with one of the guys. The White Sox man motioned to his waistband and said to her, “don’t worry; I’ll take care of it.” Isnora didn’t make clear whether he saw the White Sox man himself or whether the woman had told him about the man. Sanchez radioed such to Napoli. Napoli gave no orders. It was now around 2:30 to 3:00 a.m.

Sanchez returned to the club and pretended to play with a video machine in the front of the club, looking from time to time at the rowdy group in the rear of the club, looking out for a man in a White Sox hat. When he turned back toward the bar, he noticed Isnora and Cooper had left. It was around 3:30 and lights came on indicating the club was getting ready to close.

Sanchez walked outside where he saw Isnora and Cooper standing in front of the club. Isnora told Sanchez he’d returned to his vehicle and armed himself; he now had his gun. Sanchez radioed Napoli who told him to try to find White Sox man. Sanchez walked back into the club, but couldn’t find him. When he exited the club, there were about 15-20 people outside standing in different groups. There was a thin black man wearing all black standing in front of a black SUV directly in front of the club.

A woman surrounded by three men, one of whom was Guzman, exited the club. The woman said to the men, “I’m not fucking him.” One of the men said, “get another girl.” A man then tried to get back into the club. The man in front of the SUV raised his hand, looking at them. He said something to Guzman, and Guzman said something back. Sanchez couldn’t hear what they were saying.

A man who was standing in another group of 3-4 people, a bit farther down the sidewalk, approached the Guzman group and said, “let’s fuck him up.” That man was Sean Bell. Guzman then said, “yo, go get my gun.” Bell began to walk away. SUV guy had his right hand in his jacket pocket. By the way he held his hand, Sanchez thought SUV man had a weapon. Bell came back up to the Guzman group and said again, “let’s fuck him up.” Again, Guzman said, “go get my gun.” Sanchez was standing about five feet from Guzman; he was sure he heard his words correctly. The SUV man looked hard at the group, not seeming scared. Bell walked away, toward Liverpool Street, followed by Guzman and the rest of the group.

There was another group of about 4-5 people standing a bit further down the sidewalk. They began following the Guzman / Bell group down the street as well.

Sanchez radioed the events to Napoli and gave Isnora his cell phone so that Isnora could give a further description of the men as he followed them. Sanchez would stay near the club and keep lookout for White Sox man. Isnora took the cell phone and began following the Guzman group. (Sanchez had another, back-up phone.) Sanchez began a conversation with a woman dancer who’d just left the club (presumably Marseillas Payne, who testified earlier). He asked her how she was doing and what her name was and a few other questions. She looked him up and down and asked if he was a cop. He said no. She said, “I don’t do dates.” He said it was cool and told her to have a good night. She crossed the street and walked in the same direction as the Guzman / Bell group had.

Sanchez saw Payne stop and talk to a black man wearing a red baseball cap (Larenzo Kinred, who testified earlier) who had been with the Guzman group and was now standing down the street. SUV guy got in his vehicle and drove away, in the same direction as the Guzman group. He drove away at a rather fast speed, about 20-25 miles per hour. After he made a right at the end of the block, Sanchez lost sight of him. Sanchez remained outside of the club waiting for White Sox guy and watching Red cap guy converse with Payne.

Soon Sanchez saw his field team drive by — first Napoli’s car passed him, then the team’s minivan, or prisoner van (so named because it was used to transport prisoners following arrests), both cars proceeding in the same direction as the SUV, and the Guzman / Bell group. As they turned the corner, Sanchez followed.

About 1 1/2 minutes later, Sanchez heard people’s voices. He was unsure of what they were saying, but they were yelling. On cross examination he was asked whether those words could have been commands and he said they did sound like someone was giving commands but he couldn’t be sure since he couldn’t hear the content. At any rate, there was definite yelling. Following the yelling, he heard a large collision — “a big boom.” He rounded the corner and saw the back of the prisoner van and 3-4 seconds later he heard gunfire. He remembers seeing the silhouette of a person by the driver’s side of the prisoner van but couldn’t see what he was doing. Sanchez ran for cover, ducking in a doorway down the street, and called a detective in his team to tell her to put out a radio run of “shots fired.” He then called 911.

We heard the 911 tape and it was a mess and a half. The sound quality was so bad I couldn’t make out a single thing other than noise in the background and a female voice, apparently the operator’s, repeatedly asking Sanchez for a location, which he seemed unable to give her, and the words “two perps shot.” As the tape progressed, the attorneys — both sides — noted that it was now repeating, so you couldn’t really even tell where the call ended and began. Following the tape’s being played Sanchez testified that he didn’t know the location of the club and had to ask a uniformed officer who’d responded to the scene, as well as defendant Det. Oliver, who ran by him. They hadn’t discussed the location of the club at the prior TAC meeting in case of an emergency.

Sanchez described the gunfire as going on for about two minutes, generally continuous but with a few short pauses. He’d told the Grand Jury, though, that it only lasted 4-6 seconds. He admitted at trial that he really didn’t know exactly how long the gunfire lasted.

Later, after the gunfire had stopped, Sanchez saw Isnora, who had his police shield displayed under his chin on the left side of his collar. Isnora lifted his pants legs to show a reddish mark on his shin.

Next on was Lieutenant Michael Wheeler, one of the uniformed officers who responded to the scene. He received a total of four radio calls — three of “shots fired,” the final, “police officer needs assistance.” He arrived at the scene around 4:15 a.m., about 1 1/2 minutes after receiving the calls. He saw the collision of an Altima and a minivan, saw smoke coming from the hoods of the cars, and saw Guzman’s chest and arms hanging out the driver’s side of the Altima. Two other officers were already there assisting. He called for an ambulance and directed one of the officers to handcuff Guzman for for safety purposes. He saw Det. Cooper, holding a gun and ordered him to lower his firearm and holster. His driver had told him that Cooper was a police officer, which is why he told him only to lower, and not drop his gun. He took no notice of any shield, but wasn’t looking for one. He also saw Trent Bennefield lying on the ground, and ordered him cuffed as well.

Wheeler asked Cooper if he was okay and whether he fired his gun; Cooper said yes to both. Wheeler asked how many times he’d fired and Cooper said he didn’t know. Cooper directed Wheeler down the street to the rest of the team. Isnora told Wheeler he fired his gun but didn’t know how many times. Another detective on the team, Det. Headley said he fired his gun but didn’t know how many times. Wheeler said that when he asked Det. Oliver (who’d fired 31 times) whether he fired his gun, Oliver said he didn’t know. Wheeler had told the Grand Jury, however, that Oliver told him he did fire his gun but didn’t know how many times. At trial he insisted he was certain that Oliver had told him he didn’t know whether he’d fired his weapon and claimed the Grand Jury testimony was a mistake.

Wheeler preserved the crime scene with police tape, then spoke with Bennefield. He ascertained Bennefield’s name and address but when asking him his date of birth, Bennefield responded, “go fuck yourself.” Bennefield appeared to be in a lot of pain.

Wheeler performed a routine weapon and ‘perp search,’ finding no missing perpetrators or guns. He checked all undercovers on the team for alcohol consumption and found them all “fine and fit for duty.” Napoli, however, seemed “slightly out of it” but was still able to answer questions.

Next to testify was emergency technician Rudnick (who I mentioned about five years ago at the start of this crazy long post). Rudnick impressed as young, serious, honest, and trustworthy. He too responded to the radio runs, arriving on the scene around 4:16 a.m. He parked behind the collided cars and approached the Altima, where he found Guzman’s upper body hanging outside of the driver’s side, his hands cuffed. Rudnick introduced himself to Guzman and asked him if he was okay. Guzman said he was okay but was worried about his friend underneath him. Rudnick then leaned down and saw that Guzman was not the driver of the car, but that there was another man, in the driver’s seat who was underneath Guzman, who’d fallen into the driver’s seat atop him. Sean Bell was the driver.

Bell was ashen gray and did not appear to be breathing. Rudnick was unable to find a pulse and realized he was in traumatic cardiac arrest. Rudnick’s partner, Walsh, worked to remove Guzman from the car, immobilizing him then sliding him across the front seat and out the passenger’s side, so Rudnick could work on Bell. Rudnick cut off Bell’s shirt so that he could see his wounds. He found a bullet entry wound to the right side of his neck and another to the right side of his chest. He put a cervical collar on Bell to immobilize him, reclined his seat, which was already partially reclined, as far back as it would go, and began performing CPR and artificial pulmonary recessitation on him. Hamlin then arrived and, having advanced CPR training, and Rudnick only basic, took over for Rudnick.

Rudnick then concentrated his efforts on Guzman. As he placed Guzman into the ambulance, Guzman said, “I can’t believe the police shot my friend.” Guzman was still in cuffs at that time. Rudnick got into the ambulance, cut off Guzman’s clothes and had the cuffs removed so he could properly treat him. Guzman had multiple wounds to his face, chest, abdomen, legs, and back, and was in critical condition, with a collapsed lung. Rudnick began sealing the wounds and monitoring Guzman’s vital signs as the ambulance proceeded to Mary Immaculate hospital.

Isnora’s attorney, Anthony Ricco, went nuts on cross, homing in on what Rudnick said he heard Guzman state. Ricco asked, “did you tell Mr. Guzman the police had shot Mr. Bell? Did you see anyone tell Mr. Guzman the police had shot Mr. Bell?” Both answers were “no.” “Then how did he know the police had shot Bell?” Ricco asked. But Justice Cooperman sustained the prosecutor’s objection (Rudnick couldn’t know such an answer since he doesn’t inhabit Guzman’s brain). Rudnick himself did not know at that point that Guzman had been shot by police. On re-direct examination, the prosecutor elicited from Rudnick that Guzman was handcuffed at the point that he made the statement about the police shooting his friend. But on re-cross, Ricco asked Rudnick whether Guzman had asked why he’d been cuffed or whether he’d stated that the police had shot his friend. Rudnick said the latter.

I’ll definitely be interested to hear Guzman’s testimony now. Did he piece together that cops shot them because of the cuffs and other things that happened afterward? Or was he too out of it after being shot so many times to come to that conclusion afterward? Does this mean he knew the people approaching them bearing guns were officers and they tried to drive away anyway? Rudnick is a completely disinterested witness, and, as I said, he seemed very truthful. His testimony is going to carry a lot of weight.

Anyway, one more witness and then I’m done! Officer Dereck Braithwaite responded to the scene as well. He never saw the aftermath of the collision but remained on 94th Avenue, down the block from the club. He was the officer Sanchez had flagged down to ask about location while making his 911 call. He also saw Oliver on the street, who he noticed was wearing a police badge around his neck. Oliver asked him to radio for an ambulance, a supervisor, and other units of officers. After helping to tape up the crime scene, he escorted Bell’s ambulance to Jamaica Hospital. He received Bell’s clothing after it had been removed. It contained no weapons.