EXAMINATION BY MR. HARRIS:
Q. What happened on November 14th, 1988? Do you
recall?
A. Yes. An individual was arrested for
disorderly conduct and while enroute back to the
stationhouse kicked the police dog in the side and the dog
was used to subdue him.
Q. And was that part of your training, to use
the dog in that circumstance when a person under custody
kicks the dog?
A. When he attacks myself or the dog, yes.
Q. What did you do with the dog to subdue him?
A. I told the dog to get him and the dog bit him
and subdued him. Then I regained control and custody of
him.
Q. Did you lose control of him at one point?
MS. CONNORS: Objection. He's leading the
witness, your Honor.
THE COURT: Sustained.
Q. Do you recall losing control?
MS. CONNORS: Objection again. Same reason.
THE COURT: Sustained.
Q. Do you recall--
THE COURT: Ask him what happened next.
Q. What happened next with that person after he
kicked the dog?
A. I remember that after he kicked the dog, he
got loose from me and then the dog was used to subdue him.
Q. Now, after November 14, 1988, do you recall
the next time that you had to use the dog, use Rocky?
A. I'd have to review a report.
Q. Sure.
A. December 22nd of '88.
Q. And do you recall the circumstances of that?
A. Yes. In a stairwell in the Port Authority
bus terminal, in the parking levels, Officer Scott was
having a fight with someone, and called for a backup and
that means he needed some help. I arrived at the scene
and I instructed Officer Scott to step back from the
individual, which he did.
I yelled at him to put his hands up against
the wall and to that he responded, "No way, I'll kill you
for Christmas."
At that point, I released the dog to try and
subdue him and the dog bit him and subdued him. He was
subsequently arrested and returned to the precinct.
Q. Now, in that circumstance did Rocky do what
he was trained to do at the Police Academy?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you do what you were trained to do at the
Police Academy?
A. Yes.
Q. Now did Rocky do what he was trained to do
and you were trained to do during all the in-service
training that you received at the Canine Academy?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you recall the next incident where you had
to use Rocky?
A. I'd have to refresh my recollection.
THE COURT: Go right ahead, Officer.
Q. Sure, please do that.
A. January 1st of '89.
Q. And do you recall the circumstances of that
incident?
A. Yes. I was with another police officer and
we observed a male placing cocaine into crack vials on the
fourth level of the yellow staircase, which is the north
wing. All of the staircases in the north wing became
color coded, so you'd be able to acclimate yourself.
When we attempted to arrest the subject,
well, we placed him under arrest and my fellow officer
went to recover property and when I had the defendant
against the wall, the defendant pushed me on top of the
dog and ran away and the dog was used to subdue him.
Q. And what you did on that occasion, was that
something that you and Rocky were trained to do at the
Police Academy?
A. Yes.
Q. And in those circumstances that we just went
through, did Rocky know what to do, respond to your
commands and act appropriately?
MS. CONNORS: Objection.
THE COURT: Sustained.
Q. In reference to the training you received,
how would you characterize what Rocky did in response to
all of those circumstances?
MS. CONNORS: Objection again.
THE COURT: Sustained. You're converting him
into an expert and you're asking him to draw conclusions
that the jury is supposed to, Mr. Harris.
MR. HARRIS: I will ask another question,
your Honor.
Q. Did you ever receive any criticism either
from the Transit Authority or from anyone conducting your
in-service training prior to March 2nd, 1989 with respect
to each of those instances where Rocky was used to subdue
a person?
A. No, there was never any criticism.
Q. Do you recall ever receiving any compliments
with respect to what Rocky was trained to do and did
during each of those dog incidents?
MS. CONNORS: Objection.
THE COURT: Sustained.
Q. Now, I want to draw your attention to March
2nd, 1989. You described for us previously the levels of
the Port Authority bus terminal. Without going into them,
but in your own words, would you tell us what was the
first time that you decided that you had to do something
with respect to that stairwell at 40th Street and Eighth
Avenue?
A. I had been in the stairwell previously during
the day. That was part of my normal patrol, was to check
all the stairwells in the building.
Q. And did you have any prior experience with
that stairwell?
A. I had been in that stairwell many, many
times.
Q. And why was that stairway a primary area that
you had to patrol?
A. The bus terminal at that time was much
storied for being --
MS. CONNORS: Objection.
THE COURT: Sustained as to "much storied."
A. The bus terminal was a high crime area. The
staircases in particular were a location where--
MS. CONNORS: Again, I'd have to object to
his conclusions.
MR. HARRIS: This is from his observation.
THE COURT: Let me have the initial question
read back.
Sustained as irrelevant, counsel. Move on.
Q. Why did you have to patrol that stairway?
THE COURT: I just sustained an objection to
that.
Q. What was the purpose of your patrolling that
stairway?
A. To deter criminal activity that was taking
place in that stairwell.
Q. Did you have prior knowledge, knowledge prior
to March 3, 1989 of criminal activity taking place at that
stairway?
A. Yes, it was a high crime area.
Q. And what type of criminal activity was taking
place in that stairway prior to March 2, 1989?
A. It was an area that was frequented by people
using drugs, buying drugs, selling drugs. It was an area
where there was a lot of robberies. It was an area where
there were a lot of larcenies. There was prostitution.
There had been rapes in those staircases.
MS. CONNORS: Objection. He said
"staircases," your Honor.
THE COURT: It's an area within the terminal.
The only objection is that he said "staircases."
Overruled as to that.
The area you're talking about is the
stairwell, right?
THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
Q. Now, tell us what happened on March 2nd, 1989
when you first became involved with that staircase with
respect to what happened with Mr. Dooley.
A. It was about 2145, or quarter to ten regular
people time.
THE COURT: Civilian time?
A. Civilian time, and I was looking through the
window of the suburban bus level from the elevator lobby
and I observed a male standing several steps from the
landing smoking crack cocaine and there were several
people standing in front of him.
At that point, I started to open the door,
the dog barked and the people fled. Some fled downstairs
and the male that was on the stairs fled upstairs.
Q. What happened next?
A. Well, prior to the male fleeing upstairs, he
dropped a crack pipe and a brown paper bag and a lighter
to the ground. He fled upstairs. The other people fled
downstairs. I ordered the person who fled upstairs to
come back downstairs. I yelled at him a few times to come
back downstairs, because he didn't come back down right
away, took him several seconds to comply. He came down
the stairs, walked past me and I instructed him to place
his hands on the wall, at which point I continued to tell
him to keep his hands on the wall and not to move from the
wall. I recovered the brown paper bag and the crack pipe
and placed it in my pocket.
Q. Let me just interrupt you right there, if I
may. What's the interior of the stairwell like?
A. The stairwell itself is, lighting in some
places is pretty decent and other places people break the
lights, so the lighting is pretty bad in other spots and
you know basically at that period of time there were a lot
of people living in that bus terminal in those stairwells,
so there was a lot of --
MS. CONNORS: Objection, your Honor. He
asked him about the lighting.
MR. HARRIS: No, I said what it was like.
THE COURT: Let's move on.
Q. Did the stairwells smell?
A. The staircases were basically toilets, open
toilets.
Q. Were there windows in the staircases? By
windows, I mean windows leading out to the outside for
lighting purposes?
A. No, the only windows would be the small
windows in the doors that separated the lobby areas from
the stairwells.
Q. Was this an open staircase stairwell or was
it closed in?
A. It's an enclosed staircase.
Q. Now, when you had Mr. Dooley up against the
wall, could you tell us what happened at that point?
A. I continued to tell him to keep his hands on
the wall. He appeared somewhat agitated to me.
MS. CONNORS: Objection.
THE COURT: I'll allow it. Overruled.
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