-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/hag19.html Shooting inquiry opens January 19, 2000 BY FRANK MAIN CRIME REPORTER Renna Patton watched as Chicago police officer Serena Daniels stood behind a gray 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass last summer. Then a shot rang out. Patton heard Daniels shout, ``Oh, s - - -!'' and watched LaTanya Haggerty, 26, fall onto the pavement as police opened the passenger door. Patton's account of the June 4 South Side shooting came on the first day of testimony in the police board hearing at which Daniels and three fellow officers--Michael Williams, Carl Carter and Stafford Wilson--are fighting for their jobs. Also Tuesday, the driver of the car, Raymond Smith, admitted he was carrying a small amount of marijuana on his lap when police approached the car, and could have been charged with a felony if caught because he was out on bond on another drug charge. All four officers are accused of major departmental violations, including failing to report firing shots during a 64-block chase of the Cutlass and ignoring an order to call off the pursuit. Daniels eventually shot Haggerty once at 64th and King, killing her, witnesses said. ``The only person who did nothing wrong is the person who ended up dead,'' Assistant City Attorney Lara Shayne said in her opening statement to Hearing Officer Tom Johnson. Haggerty, a computer analyst for Encyclopaedia Britannica, was a passenger getting a ride home from a friend, Raymond Smith, 24, whom she knew since they attended college. Lawyers for the officers attacked Smith's claim that he fled because he was afraid of them. Lawyer Joseph Roddy yelled repeatedly at Smith: ``Why didn't you get out of the car?'' Smith admitted he had marijuana when police pulled him over but said he fled because he was scared. ``I was confused and frightened at that point,'' he said. The incident started at 88th and Cottage Grove, where Williams ordered Smith to move his car because he was double-parked, talking to a friend. A block later, Williams pulled over Smith and asked for his driver's license and insurance card. Smith testified that he refused to roll down the window because Williams was screaming at him and had struck the car window with his fist. Smith fled. The officers eventually boxed in Smith's car at 95th and King, where Daniels, Wilson and Carter began allegedly firing at the Cutlass. Tamara L. Cummings, another lawyer for the officers, tried to attack the city's argument that the officers didn't tell a supervisor about the shots. She pointed to a dispatch tape containing a muffled transmission from Daniels that sounded as if she was saying ``shots fired.'' Police dispatcher Luther Conerly testified that he didn't hear the words ``shots fired'' on June 4, but after listening to a tape Tuesday, he acknowledged that Daniels could have said it. Even so, the officers didn't contact a dispatcher again for another seven minutes, leaving their supervisor in the dark, lawyers for the city said. The officers' sergeant assumed they were no longer chasing the car because he had ordered them to end the pursuit if it simply involved a traffic stop, Conerly testified. The hearing is expected to last at least four days. -- ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
