Driver in traffic stop that led to cop killing takes stand
Claims suspect told him to alter testimony
On Tuesday, for the second time since Rahmael Sal Holt was charged with killing a rookie New Kensington police officer in 2017 during a traffic stop, Tavon Harper testified against him — this time providing new details.
Harper, 29, the driver of the vehicle Officer Brian Shaw was trying to pull over, first testified at a preliminary hearing in December 2017, several weeks after police say his passenger — Holt — gunned down the rookie in a vacant lot during a foot chase.
In taking the stand again as a prosecution witness during the second day of Holt’s murder trial, Harper told a similar story but added that he had been with Holt that night after Officer Shaw was killed and also claimed that Holt wrote to him, asking him to change his testimony about the shooting.
The shooting occurred Nov. 17, 2017, after Officer Shaw tried to pull over a Grand Cherokee Jeep driven by Harper about 8 p.m. Police said Holt, 31, a passenger, got out and ran along Leishman Avenue. Officer Shaw chased him, and police said Holt fatally shot the rookie.
Harper testified Tuesday in Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court that he met with Holt mid-morning on Nov. 17 and sold him about $300 worth of cocaine. Harper said Holt, whom he knew from school, had also asked him to buy marijuana for him while he was in Pittsburgh later that day, and Harper did so.
Harper said he returned to New Kensington in the evening to deliver the marijuana in exchange for a TV and an Xbox. The pair were on their way to get the electronics when Officer Shaw flipped on his lights behind them.
Harper said he planned to pull over when he saw the police lights, but Holt pulled a black handgun out of his jacket and asked Harper if he could hide it in the Jeep.
“I was like, ‘What you doing with that? You not in Homewood, you in New Kenny,’” Harper testified, saying he refused because he was on parole.
Holt then told him to drive off, and as he did, Holt got out and ran, crossing in front of the vehicle.
Harper said he looked back once and saw Officer Shaw chasing after Holt, and then drove home.
As he had during the 2017 preliminary hearing, Harper said he did not hear any gunshots or see Holt shoot Officer Shaw. On Tuesday, however, he added new details: He said that after Holt jumped out of his Jeep, he first stopped at the home he shared with his then-wife Morgan Harvin on Kenneth Avenue. Ms. Harvin also testified Tuesday, and said Harper arrived home about 8:15 p.m. and told her “Rah” was running from police, and left telling her he was going to help a friend.
Harper testified that he switched vehicles with his wife, leaving the Jeep at home and driving her black Nissan Maxima. He said he was driving around the neighborhood when he saw Holt standing in a doorway on Victoria Avenue. He picked up Holt, taking him to another residence. Harper said Holt told him that he had lost his phone, and appeared distraught. Harper said he then returned to his home, shortly before police arrived looking for the Jeep involved in the incident.
Westmoreland County Detective Thomas Klawinski on Monday testified that officials recovered a black cellphone in the backyard of the residence on Victoria Avenue, a block from Leishman Avenue. Prosecutors believe the phone belongs to Holt, and they said there were communications between that phone and
Harper’s phone number.
Ms. Harvin also testified Tuesday that Harper initially told her to tell police that she, not Harper, had been driving the Jeep.
She said she changed her statement a day after the shooting after learning that Officer Shaw had been killed, and after police “kicked in” her door and arrested her and Harper the next morning.
Harper also testified that Holt wrote him two letters from jail. One asks Harper to change his testimony. Holt’s attorney, Tim P. Dawson, said he does not believe the letters, which have no name or date on them, were sent by his client. He maintains that his client is innocent and was not at all involved in the shooting.
One letter reads in part: “Tell him only reason you lied on me is because i left some drugs in your car and at your house that you didn’t know was in there.”
Four law enforcement officials also took the stand Tuesday and elaborated on surveillance clips from residences in the area, as well as evidence photos.
Holt is charged with firstdegree murder and other charges. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.