PHOENIX (CN) – Three Phoenix police officers involved in the arrest of Jamaar Williams at a 2019 protest testified in federal court Wednesday, offering conflicting accounts.
Officer Darrell McGee says public defender and Black Lives Matter organizer Williams attacked him and resisted arrest while protesting downtown against the treatment of immigrants at the border. Williams says he never touched the officer and he unsuspecting Phoenix and several law enforcement officers in 2020, saying the officers made false statements to support a prosecution that was promptly brought discharged by a state judge for lack of evidence.
McGee said in a probable cause statement, written by another officer, that Williams pushed him in the chest with an open palm. While watching footage of the incident in a Phoenix courtroom Wednesday morning, McGee acknowledged that Williams was holding his phone in one hand and a plastic water bottle in the other.
“So there was no open palm to push you with?” asked the plaintiff’s lawyer Christopher Madeksho.
“Yeah, he could have pushed me with the water bottle hand or the phone hand,” McGee said.
Because McGee reported the incident to Officer Francisco Barrios, who later arrested Williams on protest and wrote the original report, it was Barrios who testified at Williams’ preliminary hearing before Maricopa County Judge David Seyer.
Barrios told the judge he had no first-hand knowledge of the incident and only went off of what McGee described to him. In a video of that session played Wednesday, Barrios says he saw a “Caucasian male” pushing officers in police footage.
Jamaar Williams is black.
“Have you seen a video of a Caucasian person who could not be Mr. Williams?” asked plaintiff’s attorney Mart Harris.
“Yes,” Barrios said.
“And that Caucasian person was doing the things that Officer McGee said happened?” Harris asked.
“Yes,” Barrios replied.
Barrios said in his deposition that McGee reviewed the report. But in his testimony Wednesday, he said he assumed but didn’t know for sure if McGee reviewed it.
“Is it because you didn’t want Officer McGee to get in trouble?” Harris asked, suggesting Barrios knew McGee might have lied.
“I’m not sure,” Barrios replied.
When the crowd did not follow orders to disperse, McGee and a skirmish line of officers advanced, pushing the protesters onto the sidewalk. After Williams was pushed by another officer, McGee says Williams jumped forward and pushed him, then McGee pushed Williams, causing Williams to fall backwards.
of the video is unclearand lawyers disagree on exactly what the jury saw unfold. At one point, Williams is seen coming back after being pushed by McGee. McGee says his outstretched arms tried to grab Williams, but Williams pulled away.
In an earlier frame, McGee’s plastic protest mask is illuminated by Williams’ phone. McGee says that’s when Williams pushed him with his phone in his hand, but the video is unclear.
McGee said he never gave Williams a warrant indicating he was under arrest.
On the cross, McGee told his defense attorney Lori Berke that Williams was standing on the sidewalk, but just seconds later said Williams was not on the sidewalk and refused to get on it. In the footage, McGee is seen stomping Williams to the curb.
On redirect, McGee claimed he never pushed Williams at all before clarifying, “I didn’t push him. I pushed him.”
After the lunch hour, Williams’ attorneys told US District Judge Susan Brnovich that one of the exhibits the defendants were showing the jury had been altered. Berke said her team broke up a 10-second video of the fight into multiple photos to make it easier for the jury to interpret. Williams’ technical assistant noticed that the photos looked brighter than the original video, the frame was enlarged and the overall quality decreased.
Berke said they lightened the photos to make them easier to view, but the quality degradation was an accidental result of converting the images to different formats for ease of electronic transmission.
Harris asked that the photographs be suppressed from evidence. Berke countered that Harris and his team already waived any objection to the use of the photos. Harris said he would not have dropped that objection if he had been aware of the change.
“I feel deceived about the basis of that document,” he said.
Brnovich, a Donald Trump appointee, said she will match the photos with the original video overnight.
Williams took the stand near the end of the day, but his lawyer Madeksho ran out of time to cross-examine him, asking only about his background, background knowledge and experience in protests. His testimony will continue Thursday afternoon, after which he intends to rest his case.
The defendants will call only two witnesses for their case in chief. The parties plan to begin closing arguments Friday morning.
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