|
Police officer injured in shooting takes stand in trial
By Carey Phillips
Showing occasional emotion, Sylva Police Officer Shannon Ashe took the witness stand Tuesday to tell a Jackson County Superior Court jury about the events of Oct. 18, 2003 – the day he was shot while on duty.
His testimony came on the opening day of the trial of Harold McVay, 34, of Sylva, who has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, discharging a firearm in the city limits and seven counts of assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer.
A bullet-proof vest Ashe was wearing has been credited with preventing serious injury and possibly saving his life. He was kept overnight at Harris Regional Hospital.
McVay was seriously injured when he was shot by officers following a standoff lasting nearly an hour.
Opening statements from District Attorney Mike Bonfoey and John Parton, McVay’s attorney, did not reveal much difference in the facts of the case.
Parton told the jury his client had been drinking heavily that day, does not remember shooting Ashe and was so drunk he was incapable of having “malice of forethought” when the incident occurred.
Ashe, who since the incident has been promoted to detective, testified he was responding to a 6 p.m. call of shots being fired on Magnolia Street off Chipper Curve Road.
When he arrived at 69 Magnolia, Ashe said he saw a man, later identified as McVay, standing on the porch. The officer said he twice told the man to show his hands, but McVay didn’t comply. Instead, Ashe said the man turned and pointed a gun at him, firing twice. One shot hit him in the lower right abdomen, an area protected by his vest.
Ashe said he ran and used his patrol car to take cover while calling by radio for backup from other officers. He fired a shot at McVay while hearing two or three shots, which he believed were fired by McVay.
No longer able to see the suspect and not knowing where McVay was, Ashe said he ran down the street in a zig- zag pattern until he fell. Help arrived shortly thereafter.
While cross examining the officer, Parton said, “You were angry, weren’t you,” regarding Ashe’s mood after the shooting.
“I was scared,” the officer replied. “I thought he was going to shoot me again.”
Ashe said he told other officers he was fine and continued to work on the scene until Detective Tammy Hooper, who is now assistant chief, arrived. She insisted Ashe take his shirt and vest off to be checked.
Hooper testified she found a hole in a shirt Ashe was wearing under his vest. She saw a red mark on his stomach, and told Ashe he needed to go to an ambulance that was stationed nearby.
“He almost collapsed on me,” said Hooper, who assisted Ashe to the ambulance. “He had difficulty walking because he was so scared.”
McVay lived with his sister at 61 Magnolia, but the shooting occurred next door at the downstairs apartment 18-year-old William Daniel Cogdill shared with his mother. Cogdill said McVay, who he considered a friend, came to the apartment, talked with Cogdill and showed him a handgun. McVay started shooting at a mailbox and shot a beer bottle on a porch banister, Cogdill said.
When Ashe arrived a short time later, Cogdill said McVay told him to leave the area near the front door and go to his room. Cogdill said he told McVay something to the affect of “Don’t do it.”
“I saw him turn around and shoot the officer,” said Cogdill, who said he then ran out of the house and went to the home of a neighbor.
Under cross examination, Cogdill said McVay drank on a regular basis. While he usually drank beer, Cogdill said McVay had been drinking whiskey on the day Ashe was shot and was more intoxicated than he had ever seen him. McVay seemed depressed and cried when talking about his children. Cogdill said.
Ryan Knowells, a Western Carolina University student who lived in an apartment upstairs over Cogdill’s, said his roommate made the first call to police about shots being fired in the area.
Neighbors Gladys Schutters, Robert Long and Kristin Kane all testified they heard shots fired that evening.
Schutters said Cogdill came to her house and told her, regarding McVay, “He’s going to be in big trouble. He’s shot a cop.”
Under cross examination, Schutters said Cogdill also told her McVay was drunk.
Long also said Cogdill came to his house and told him an officer had been shot.
Kane said she watched as Ashe approached the downstairs apartment at 69 Magnolia. “I saw him fall,” she said. “I heard someone yell ‘I’m shot.’ ”
Also testifying were Police Chief Jeff Jamison and officers Aimee Sumner and Rick Bryson.
Jamison said he ordered officers to set up a perimeter in the area to contain McVay since it was not known where the suspect was. Shortly thereafter, McVay was found in the back of his house at 61 Magnolia.
When he heard yelling to put the gun down coming from officers in the back of the house, he ran to the area, Jamison said.
“I told him I was the chief of police. If he put the gun down and came out, I promised him no one would hurt him,” Jamison said. “He told me he didn’t give a f--- who I was.”
Several of the officers said McVay was only willing to talk with Deputy Matt Helton of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office during the standoff of approximately 45-60 minutes.
Bryson said McVay held a handgun in his right hand throughout the standoff and after a time began to move the gun up and down. “He made a statement that either he or an officer was going to die,” Bryson said.
Realizing he might be in the line of fire if shooting erupted, Bryson said he changed positions and took cover near where Hooper was stationed. He looked away for just a moment.
“I heard glass shattering and heard numerous rounds going off,” Bryson said. “It was all done in two or three seconds.”
When he entered the house just after the shots were fired, he found McVay on the floor moaning, Jamison said.
“He and his surroundings were all covered with blood,” Jamison said.
Testimony was to resume Wednesday morning with Jamison still on the stand.
|
