Trial begins for man who shot officer during drug raid
Defense attorney Skip Davis shouted and flailed his arms at the jury during opening statements in an attempted murder trial on Tuesday morning.
Davis was trying to demonstrate the confusion that his client might have felt on the morning he shot and wounded an Austin police officer who burst into his home during a drug raid in 2016.
“Austin Police Department! Stop moving! Come out with your hands up!” Davis shouted as he made loud booming noises to simulate the series of nonlethal stun grenades that were detonated by SWAT officers during the raid.
Davis said that Tyler Harrell, 18 years old at the time, acted in self-defense and did not know he was shooting at the police.
Prosecuting attorney Chari Kelly said that Harrell knew it was the police and fired anyway. Officers clearly announced their presence outside the home over a loudspeaker, she said, and Harrell saw the officer before firing about 23 shots at him.
In comparison, Leighton Radtke, the officer who coordinated the raid, only fired about three shots at Harrell, according to Kelly.
“You cannot look a police officer in the eye and fire first with an AK-47,” Kelly told the jury. “But you will learn that is exactly what the defendant Tyler Harrell did on April 14, 2016.”
Kelly then explained to the jury that the warrant had a “no-knock” provision that allowed officers to enter the home immediately.
“To get a no-knock warrant, there has to be a security concern. And in this case, there was one,” Kelly said. “Because APD had information that, in addition to dealing drugs, that the defendant had an AK-47 in his possession in that home.”
Police raided Harrell’s home after sifting through the family’s trash, finding evidence of marijuana use and high-power rifle ammunition.
Davis scoffed at the prosecutor’s opening statement, suggesting the police overreacted when they learned Harrell had the rifle.
“You’re going to hear some curious testimony trying to justify what the police officers did to enter the home that night, that ‘Oh this is a real dangerous situation because that home has a rifle,’ ” Davis said. “That means every home in Texas, virtually, is a place which could be subject to a violent attack by armed people, whether they’re correct or