Officers probably won’t testify at beating trial
Boynton officer, 2 former officers accused in beating, cover-up.
The decision by attorneys for the three men accused of beating a motorist and falsifying reports could advance the case quickly.
WEST PALM BEACH — Three Boynton Beach cops, accused of kicking and punching an unarmed Lake Worth man and then falsifying reports to cover up their misdeeds, aren’t expected to testify in their own defense when their trial resumes Tuesday in federal court.
While attorneys for officer Michael Brown and former officers Ronald Ryan and Justin Harris told U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg on Friday that they would be meeting with their clients over the weekend to make a final decision, they indicated it’s doubtful any of the three men would testify.
Further, in what would be an unusual move, the attorneys also said it’s likely they would rest their cases without calling a single witness to defend the men, who are charged with violating the constitutional rights of Jeffrey Braswell and falsifying reports of his August 2014 arrest.
That would mean the case that began this week could be handed to the jury on Tuesday. Rosenberg suspended the trial on Monday for scheduling reasons.
It also would mean that the jury won’t hear from anyone directly involved in what federal prosecutors described as a “beat down.” While the jury was shown photos of Braswell’s bruised face, spotted with scrapes, he didn’t testify either — a point one defense attorney underscored for the jury on Friday.
Attorney Bruce Reinhart, who represents Brown, said he and fellow defense attorneys Robert Adler and Jonathan Wasserman have talked about calling former Boynton Beach Police Chief Matthew Immler to testify on behalf of the three men who face charges that carry a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison. But, he said, he was
leaning against it.
Immler likely would dispute statements by police officers who testified for the prosecution that it was highly unusual that the officers left key information out of their initial reports. Each filed multiple updates before finally acknowledging that they kicked and punched Braswell, who was a passenger in a car that had hit a fellow officer and led nine officers on a roughly 20-mile chase on Interstate 95 at speeds topping 100 mph.
Federal prosecutors Susan Osborne and Donald Tunnage insist that the officers finally came clean only after they learned that their actions were captured on a video by a Palm Beach County sheriff ’s helicopter that was summoned to help track the fleeing car that was pursued from Boynton to West Palm Beach to South A Street in Lake Worth.
Sgt. Michael Musto, head of PBSO’s aviation unit, told the jury earlier this week that he gave the video to his supervisors because he was concerned about the officers’ actions. His supervisors, in turn, gave it to Boynton Beach Police Chief Jeffery Katz. He testified that he asked the FBI and the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office to investigate after he realized the officers reports didn’t match what was captured on the video.
The video didn’t go public until February 2015, six months after the incident.
FBI agent Ellen Thomas, who helped with the investigation, on Friday detailed for jurors the changes the three made in their reports.
Brown, for instance, initially reported only that he shot Braswell with a Taser after Braswell refused his orders to show his hands and get out of the car. A week later, after the video was turned over to Katz, he added that he rammed the fleeing car to bring it to a halt and struck Braswell “several times” with a closed fist.
However, she said, contrary to what is depicted on the video, he never said he kicked Braswell or that he held his gun in the hand he used to hit him.
Under questioning by Reinhart, the FBI agent acknowledged that the video — shot from at least 700 feet above the ground — doesn’t reveal whether Brown’s foot actually made contact with Braswell’s body. It only shows “multiple kicks,” Thomas said, agreeing that the video doesn’t offer definitive proof of what happened inside the car.
Likewise, she said, it doesn’t show whether Brown still held his gun in his hand when he punched Braswell. But, Boynton Sgt. Sedrick Aiken testified earlier that since the video doesn’t show Brown putting his gun back in his holster, he assumed the weapon was still in Brown’s hand when he punched Braswell.
Ryan, meanwhile, changed his report three times. He updated it to say that he feared Braswell was reaching for a gun, that he wrestled Braswell to the ground and then kicked him three or four times so he could put him in handcuffs.
Harris updated his report three times, eventually saying he hit Braswell three times on the shoulder. He said he hit Braswell who was lying on the ground, handcuffed, because Braswell wouldn’t let him check his hands to make sure the cuffs were secure.
On Tuesday, Boynton officer Patrick Monteith testified that he saw Braswell “blocking blows” but unable to get out of the car because he had not removed his seat belt.
Thomas is to return to the stand Tuesday to be quizzed by attorneys representing Ryan and Harris. They, like Reinhart, have insisted the force was appropriate and that their failure to mention it in their initial reports were simple omissions.
The officers were exhausted and stressed out over the chaos they had experienced, the attorneys argued. The chase began after the car, driven by Byron Harris, clipped officer Jeffrey Williams, who was throwing out stop sticks to block it from reaching I-95. Williams was then run over by a police cruiser.
While Williams survived, he was critically injured. His condition also weighed heavily on the officers’ minds, the attorneys said.
Thomas is likely to be the last witness the jury will hear before they begin deliberations. However, even after they reach a verdict, the case won’t be over.
Sgt. Philip Antico, who is accused of helping the three falsify their reports, is to be tried next.