TheeBadOne
Member
Witness: Attacker Hit Cop With Hammer
October 27, 2003, 5:47 PM EST
Gary Busch had a hammer raised above his head and lunged toward police officers when he was shot on the sidewalk outside his Borough Park apartment, a witness testified yesterday.
The witness, Kieran O'Leary, currently a police officer in Yonkers, had been among the group of New York City cops who responded to a call about an emotionally disturbed man causing problems in front of 1619 46th St. on Aug. 30, 1999.
O'Leary also said in his testimony in federal court in Brooklyn that he saw Busch twice strike Sgt. Terrance O'Brien with a hammer in a stairwell area leading to the basement apartment.
The testimony by O'Leary painted a more aggressive picture of Busch in the moments before he was shot dead by police than had come out so far in the trial.
The Busch family is suing the city and five officers, including O'Brien, saying excessive force was used in the incident. The city contends the officers feared for their lives when they shot Busch.
But O'Leary also admitted, both on direct examination by Busch family attorney Myron Beldock and cross-examination by city attorney Kanika Juneja, that his testimony in a police internal affairs interview and grand jury differed.
A key difference, O'Leary indicated, was that he had told internal affairs officers that Busch struck O'Brien with the hammer in the stairwell, although he did not say that a few days later in a state grand jury. The officers were never charged criminally.
Beldock, while not accusing O'Leary of giving false testimony, suggested that he and the other officers may have talked about what happened after the incident. O'Leary had been a defendant in the Busch lawsuit but was later dropped. He recently joined the Yonkers Police Department.
O'Leary said he was assigned to drive O'Brien and showed up twice at Busch's apartment the day of the shooting. He said the first time police had a call that a man was dancing naked in the street but discovered a rather calm Busch sitting at the top of a stairwell.
O'Leary said he and O'Brien had to quickly return to the scene after another radio call came over about trouble. It was then, O'Leary stated, that things escalated.
After O'Brien and Officer Martin Sanabria grabbed an African-American friend of Busch to get him out of the stairway, Busch charged up the stairway with the hammer, O'Leary said. Busch struck O'Brien with the hammer once, apparently on his pistol belt, and again on the officer's arm, O'Leary recalled.
After striking O'Brien, Busch than ran onto a sidewalk area with the hammer, O'Leary said.
"He raised the hammer above his head, lunged forward two, three, four feet and that is when we heard shots fired," O'Leary said.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local...0,853211.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-brooklyn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
O-u-c-h !
October 27, 2003, 5:47 PM EST
Gary Busch had a hammer raised above his head and lunged toward police officers when he was shot on the sidewalk outside his Borough Park apartment, a witness testified yesterday.
The witness, Kieran O'Leary, currently a police officer in Yonkers, had been among the group of New York City cops who responded to a call about an emotionally disturbed man causing problems in front of 1619 46th St. on Aug. 30, 1999.
O'Leary also said in his testimony in federal court in Brooklyn that he saw Busch twice strike Sgt. Terrance O'Brien with a hammer in a stairwell area leading to the basement apartment.
The testimony by O'Leary painted a more aggressive picture of Busch in the moments before he was shot dead by police than had come out so far in the trial.
The Busch family is suing the city and five officers, including O'Brien, saying excessive force was used in the incident. The city contends the officers feared for their lives when they shot Busch.
But O'Leary also admitted, both on direct examination by Busch family attorney Myron Beldock and cross-examination by city attorney Kanika Juneja, that his testimony in a police internal affairs interview and grand jury differed.
A key difference, O'Leary indicated, was that he had told internal affairs officers that Busch struck O'Brien with the hammer in the stairwell, although he did not say that a few days later in a state grand jury. The officers were never charged criminally.
Beldock, while not accusing O'Leary of giving false testimony, suggested that he and the other officers may have talked about what happened after the incident. O'Leary had been a defendant in the Busch lawsuit but was later dropped. He recently joined the Yonkers Police Department.
O'Leary said he was assigned to drive O'Brien and showed up twice at Busch's apartment the day of the shooting. He said the first time police had a call that a man was dancing naked in the street but discovered a rather calm Busch sitting at the top of a stairwell.
O'Leary said he and O'Brien had to quickly return to the scene after another radio call came over about trouble. It was then, O'Leary stated, that things escalated.
After O'Brien and Officer Martin Sanabria grabbed an African-American friend of Busch to get him out of the stairway, Busch charged up the stairway with the hammer, O'Leary said. Busch struck O'Brien with the hammer once, apparently on his pistol belt, and again on the officer's arm, O'Leary recalled.
After striking O'Brien, Busch than ran onto a sidewalk area with the hammer, O'Leary said.
"He raised the hammer above his head, lunged forward two, three, four feet and that is when we heard shots fired," O'Leary said.
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local...0,853211.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-brooklyn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
O-u-c-h !
