More testimony from detective expected in officer’s trial

During a recorded interview some four hours after he fatally shot Jonathan Ferrell, Randall “Wes” Kerrick described a man “with crazy-looking eyes” who ignored his commands and didn’t stop when the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer fired his first shots. The 34-second video, which was not publicly released prior to the trial, shows what happened after Kerrick and two other officers arrived at the scene in response to the report of a home intruder. When Kerrick yelled to Ferrell to stop, the man turned his attention to the officer.

Ferrell died a short time after wrecking his auto in the Bradfield Farms community east of Charlotte, where Ferrell had gone to take a friend home. Ferrell is now off camera, but Kerrick can be heard repeatedly ordering him to the ground. However, the sound of each shot was recorded through the microphone on Neal’s uniform, along with the voice of someone yelling “Get on the ground!” three times. From the moment that Ferrell starts running until Kerrick completely empties his weapon, 11 seconds elapse. Kerrick is charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of Jonathan Ferrell in September 2013. There were ten little boxes that contained bullet fragments pulled from Ferrell’s body.

Randall Kerrick has not shown much emotion since his voluntary manslaughter trial began five days ago. “It did not faze him”, he said. “He kept coming toward me; I fired again”. By contrast, in his opening statement last week, Kerrick’s lawyer said Ferrell had tackled him and punched him in the face while trying to grab his gun.

In the video, Kerrick tells his interviewers that he heard the dispatch call on his radio. He said he saw a Taser fired at Ferrell, but said that either the Taser missed or Ferrell fought through it. He recalled wondering if Ferrell was “on bath salts or mushrooms”.

Officer Adam Neal, who was with Kerrick at the shooting scene, testified Thursday that he would have opted to put Ferrell in a sleeper hold instead of shooting him.

“When he got within, say, 10 feet of me, I fired my duty weapon”. A paramedic who examined Kerrick said he had a swollen jaw, a cut inside his cheek, and blood on his lips.