Shaggz
05-12-2005, 05:27 AM
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050512/NEWS01/505120419
Civil case opens in police killing of handcuffed man
Taylor held knife, was shot 11 times
By Jason Riley
jriley@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
Backed into a corner, Louisville police Detective Michael O'Neil had to make a life-or-death decision when he and another detective faced a "crazed crack addict" with a "razor-sharp blade," an attorney for O'Neil told jurors hearing a wrongful-death lawsuit yesterday.
Attorneys for O'Neil and the city said in Jefferson Circuit Court that O'Neil acted in self-defense and did what he was trained to do to protect himself and those around him -- he fired shots until the threat was stopped.
But the threat, James Edward Taylor, was a mentally ill crack addict who had an art knife but whose hands were cuffed behind his back when he was shot 11 times by O'Neil, said Aubrey Williams, an attorney for Taylor's estate.
"James Taylor did not have to die," Williams said in his opening statement. "He did not put Officer O'Neil in imminent danger of his life."
The jury must decide whether O'Neil was acting in self-defense when he shot the 50-year-old Taylor in Taylor's Smoketown apartment on Dec. 5, 2002.
It also will decide whether the city properly trained O'Neil in how to handle the threat.
The trial is expected to last up to two weeks.
At the time of the shooting, police said two detectives, O'Neil and Bryan Luckett, entered the building where Taylor lived, then heard a woman screaming for help and saying that a man had a knife.
Police have said that Taylor's hands were cuffed behind his back, but that he somehow managed to get hold of the box-cutter-style knife and lunged towards O'Neil.
A grand jury declined to indict either detective in the shooting.
Attorneys for the city and O'Neil tried to show jurors yesterday the serious situation that detectives faced that day.
Steve Snyder, O'Neil's attorney, taped off the length and width of Taylor's apartment -- 15 by 16 feet -- in the courtroom and told jurors that furniture and five people were in that space when the detectives arrived.
And while Taylor may have been handcuffed, Snyder said, he had managed to get the knife and move his right hand several inches in front of his body while quickly moving towards O'Neil, blade first.
The detectives repeatedly told Taylor to drop the weapon and even tried to kick it away from him before resorting to the only weapon O'Neil had.
The initial shots "barely slowed down Mr. Taylor," Snyder said. "He kept that knife in a death grip."
Taylor was black, and O'Neil and Luckett are white.
The shooting prompted protests by civil-rights activists.
Williams hinted at this unrest yesterday during his opening statement, when he noted that some people might be upset that the jury is all white. But Williams told jurors he was comfortable with them.
He acknowledged that Taylor had been drinking and smoking crack throughout the day -- and that he had challenged police to fight after they handcuffed him and sat him down.
And Williams told jurors that Taylor was holding a knife.
But, he said, O'Neil did not need to shoot Taylor multiple times.
"Even if (O'Neil) felt it necessary to shoot James Taylor, he didn't have to continue shooting him," Williams said. "He used excessive force."
Taylor was not a model citizen, Williams said, but he "was not a dog, not an animal. He was a human being … and he did not deserve to die that way."
Derrick Spaulding, a witness for Taylor's estate who said he was in the apartment during the shooting, testified that Taylor was not dangerous that night.
"He couldn't harm nobody, drunk as he was," Spaulding said.
He added that Taylor didn't lunge at officers but may have stumbled toward them while trying to gain his balance.
____________________________
Thats a tough one. If faced with this situation, Id have to shoot too.
Civil case opens in police killing of handcuffed man
Taylor held knife, was shot 11 times
By Jason Riley
jriley@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
Backed into a corner, Louisville police Detective Michael O'Neil had to make a life-or-death decision when he and another detective faced a "crazed crack addict" with a "razor-sharp blade," an attorney for O'Neil told jurors hearing a wrongful-death lawsuit yesterday.
Attorneys for O'Neil and the city said in Jefferson Circuit Court that O'Neil acted in self-defense and did what he was trained to do to protect himself and those around him -- he fired shots until the threat was stopped.
But the threat, James Edward Taylor, was a mentally ill crack addict who had an art knife but whose hands were cuffed behind his back when he was shot 11 times by O'Neil, said Aubrey Williams, an attorney for Taylor's estate.
"James Taylor did not have to die," Williams said in his opening statement. "He did not put Officer O'Neil in imminent danger of his life."
The jury must decide whether O'Neil was acting in self-defense when he shot the 50-year-old Taylor in Taylor's Smoketown apartment on Dec. 5, 2002.
It also will decide whether the city properly trained O'Neil in how to handle the threat.
The trial is expected to last up to two weeks.
At the time of the shooting, police said two detectives, O'Neil and Bryan Luckett, entered the building where Taylor lived, then heard a woman screaming for help and saying that a man had a knife.
Police have said that Taylor's hands were cuffed behind his back, but that he somehow managed to get hold of the box-cutter-style knife and lunged towards O'Neil.
A grand jury declined to indict either detective in the shooting.
Attorneys for the city and O'Neil tried to show jurors yesterday the serious situation that detectives faced that day.
Steve Snyder, O'Neil's attorney, taped off the length and width of Taylor's apartment -- 15 by 16 feet -- in the courtroom and told jurors that furniture and five people were in that space when the detectives arrived.
And while Taylor may have been handcuffed, Snyder said, he had managed to get the knife and move his right hand several inches in front of his body while quickly moving towards O'Neil, blade first.
The detectives repeatedly told Taylor to drop the weapon and even tried to kick it away from him before resorting to the only weapon O'Neil had.
The initial shots "barely slowed down Mr. Taylor," Snyder said. "He kept that knife in a death grip."
Taylor was black, and O'Neil and Luckett are white.
The shooting prompted protests by civil-rights activists.
Williams hinted at this unrest yesterday during his opening statement, when he noted that some people might be upset that the jury is all white. But Williams told jurors he was comfortable with them.
He acknowledged that Taylor had been drinking and smoking crack throughout the day -- and that he had challenged police to fight after they handcuffed him and sat him down.
And Williams told jurors that Taylor was holding a knife.
But, he said, O'Neil did not need to shoot Taylor multiple times.
"Even if (O'Neil) felt it necessary to shoot James Taylor, he didn't have to continue shooting him," Williams said. "He used excessive force."
Taylor was not a model citizen, Williams said, but he "was not a dog, not an animal. He was a human being … and he did not deserve to die that way."
Derrick Spaulding, a witness for Taylor's estate who said he was in the apartment during the shooting, testified that Taylor was not dangerous that night.
"He couldn't harm nobody, drunk as he was," Spaulding said.
He added that Taylor didn't lunge at officers but may have stumbled toward them while trying to gain his balance.
____________________________
Thats a tough one. If faced with this situation, Id have to shoot too.