Quantcast
Channel: Crime, Fire + Courts – Davis Enterprise
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 3023

Testimony begins in Picnic Day assault case

$
0
0

WOODLAND — The preliminary hearing for the five defendants in a Picnic Day street brawl in Davis got under way Thursday in Yolo Superior Court, the start of what’s expected to be a multi-day hearing to determine whether there’s sufficient evidence for the charges against them to stand.

Alexander Craver, Iszir Price and Elijah Williams of West Sacramento; Antwoine Perry of Elk Grove; and Angelica Reyes of Rio Linda face felony counts of assault on a peace officer and resisting arrest in connection with the April 22 incident on Russell Boulevard, during which they allegedly fought three plain-clothed police officers who had pulled over to move a large crowd out of a traffic lane.

Judge David Rosenberg will rule in late August, when the hearing is slated to conclude, whether the case should proceed to the trial stage.

The case has been the subject of intense controversy, as well as an outside investigation of the officers’ actions ordered by Police Chief Darren Pytel. Each side has accused the other of instigating the confrontation and disagree as to whether the officers, who emerged from an unmarked minivan, were identifiable as police.

Video footage of the melee — including a cell-phone video previously undisclosed to the public that was played in court Thursday — so far has been inconclusive, as both prosecutors and the defense say it backs their version of the events.

protesters hold up signs as they stand in front of the
Yolo County Courthouse in Woodland on Thursday morning. Sue Cockrell/Enterprise photo

Much of the Thursday’s hearing focused on the testimony of Davis police Detective Kimberly Walker, who took statements from Williams and Craver on the evening of their arrests.

Both men had come to Davis with friends to attend the Picnic Day festivities, and were among a large group of people leaving a fraternity party when a “commotion” broke out at the intersection of Russell Boulevard and College Park.

Williams “described the commotion as a fight in the roadway with people he did not know,” Walker said. She said Williams admitted he “swung on someone, and he did not connect when he swung.”

Instead, Williams said he landed on top of one of the plain-clothed officers, Ryan Bellamy, who while holding Williams in a headlock told him, “Stop, stop — it’s the cops,” according to Walker’s testimony.

“What are you talking about, bro?” Williams told Walker he responded. It was at that point in the scuffle that Williams said he noticed a “military-style necklace” on Bellamy — a chain that Walker said is used by undercover officers to carry their badges.

“Stop resisting,” Bellamy replied, according to Williams, who told Walker he pushed Bellamy’s hands away and ran.

Walker testified that she took note of a collapsed ring-finger knuckle on Williams’ right hand, which she said in her experience is seen among people who “typically are involved in a lot of fights.”

When she asked Williams about the injury, he responded that “it was from years of playing rugby,” said Walker, adding that she saw no other signs of trauma to the hand. Asked why he fled the scene, Williams said he “didn’t want to get Tased, or something.”

Walker also said Williams denied having ever fought before, but did so this time because he saw another African-American man being punched by “a white cop,” though she didn’t clarify whether Williams knew it was an officer at the time, or after the fact.

“What would you do? Would you just stand there and let them be hit, or fight back?” Williams said, according to Walker.

Williams also offered a second explanation for joining the fight, Walker said, claiming that someone had struck him in the face, “and then it was self-defense.”

Craver, meanwhile, told police his involvement in the fight began when “he watched his friend Angelica get hit twice,” Walker said, referring to Reyes. At that point Craver approached one of the officers, Sgt. Steve Ramos, “and took him down with all his might.”

On the ground, Craver wrapped his arms and legs around Ramos from behind — the scuffle captured on a passing motorist’s dashboard video camera as Reyes, who according to police hit Ramos from behind before being struck, allegedly kicked Ramos several times in the head.

Both Ramos and Bellamy were later treated for head wounds they sustained during the fight. The third officer, Sean Bellamy, was not injured.

Prosecutor Ryan Couzens played both slow-motion and real-time versions of the video, which captured the brawl as it unfolded. Police allege that it shows defendant Antwoine Perry reaching toward his pocket or waistband as he approaches the minivan, as if for a weapon.

Arrested several blocks away, Perry had a dozen 9mm bullets in his backpack, but no weapon was found.

It was as they wrestled on the ground that Ramos told Craver, “I’m a cop,” according to Craver’s statement to Walker. “He said that he gave up and allowed Sgt. Ramos to apprehend him.”

“I recall him saying that it was his fault, that he didn’t know he was an undercover (officer),” Walker added. Craver also explained that seeing Reyes being hit triggered childhood memories of his father abusing his mother, “so he had a problem with a female being struck by a male.”

“He seemed like a nice person,” Walker said of Craver, whom she described as being cooperative during the interview.

“Did you feel like as nice as Mr. Craver was being, he was telling you the whole story?” Couzens asked.

“No,” Walker replied. “I felt like he was leaving pieces out.”

Moments later, Couzens introduced a cell-phone video recorded by James Fang, a passenger in a sport-utility vehicle that was behind the unmarked police van as it made a U-turn in front of the Russell Boulevard crowd.

Walker said Fang, who later notified the police department of his video after being “hassled by his girlfriend,” described hearing a honk from the van, then seeing a crowd surround the vehicle and scream profanities as a man exited the driver’s seat.

“According to Mr. Fang, he saw a badge around the driver’s neck,” Walker said.

The footage from Fang shows the tail end of the Craver/Ramos struggle, the pair grappling face to face on the ground before Ramos turns him onto his stomach and handcuffs him — appearing to contradict Craver’s statement that he was holding Ramos from behind when he surrendered.

Under cross-examination by defense lawyers, Walker did agree the video shows Craver ultimately giving himself up, and that no part of it reveals the officers’ identities.

“Are there any audio recordings or video where these officers identify themselves as police?” asked attorney Jeff Raven, who represents Price.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Walker replied.

Testimony in the case was scheduled to resume at 2 p.m. today. Among the witnesses ordered to appear is Romeo Lopez, a sixth suspect arrested by Davis police in early June but never formally charged.

The District Attorney’s Office has not commented on Lopez’s role in the case or whether he struck a deal with prosecutors in exchange for his testimony, although Couzens noted in court that he had retained an attorney.

Read the full criminal complaint here.

— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene

 


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 3023

Latest Images

Trending Articles



Latest Images