Video of interview opens 2nd week of police officer’s trial

Police officer Randall Kerrick listens to testimony during day four of his trial at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse, Thursday, August 6, 2015.in Charlotte, N.C. Kerrick is facing voluntary manslaughter charges in the shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell. Early in the morning on September 14, 2013, Ferrell crashed his vehicle and went looking for help at a nearby house, where he was mistaken for a burglar.

Ferrell initially walks calmly toward the officers, until the light from a stun gun’s laser sight appears on his chest.

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. Within three seconds of the first command, Kerrick fires four rounds, then another eight.

Investigators say Kerrick was one of three officers who responded and the only one who used his gun. Morales said Kerrick told him that despite giving Jonathan Ferrell loud commands to stop, Ferrell wasn’t paying him any attention. Ten of the rounds struck Ferrell.

Kerrick was asked during the interview whether he had considered putting his gun back in his holster and possibly using his Taser on Ferrell, but he told investigators he didn’t have time. “It did not faze him”, he said.

Neal testified that he heard officer Kerrick tell Ferrell to get down, but that Ferrell was coming at the officer “hard and fast”. Kerrick’s response: “I felt if I didn’t shoot him, he was acting like he’d cause me harm and could take my firearm from me”. Then I fired again.

The judge allowed jurors to pass around the photos, rather than show them on a monitor in open court.

Defense attorney George Laughrun objected to the line of questioning, saying Morales was giving “cut and paste” answers as he referred to the transcript of his interview the night after the shooting.

Prosecutors say Kerrick is guilty of voluntary manslaughter because he overreacted when he killed Ferrell.

Dashboard footage from Kerrick’s auto and the vehicle of a third officer is also expected to be introduced as evidence.

Det. Edwin Morales continued his testimony Friday in the trial of Officer Randal Kerrick. But we already know that the two other officers at the scene did not perceive Ferrell as a big enough threat to draw their own guns, and Ferrell’s demeanor when he first sees the cops hardly suggests an aggressive intent.