Free Appendix - District Court of Delaware - Delaware

Case 1:04-cv-01254-GMS

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Appendix Page B-150

Deposition of JOHN F. CIRITELLA taken pursuant to notice at the law offices of Richards, Layton & Finger, One Rodney Square, Third Floor, Wilmington, Delaware, beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, May 8, 2006, before Kathleen White Palmer, Registered Professional Reporter and Notary Public.

Page 56 21 Q. At any point from the time that you first heard 22 the call for assistance to the point at which you 23 stopped discharging your weapon, did anyone tell you 24 there was a shotgun in the car or that Mr. Smith was

Page 57 1 armed with a shotgun? Did anybody tell you that? 2 A. Did anybody tell me that? 3 Q. Yes. 4 A. No, nobody told me that.

Page 88 17 Q. So the first shot that you fired the car was 18 about a car length away; correct? 19 A. I'd say that, yes.

Page 94 5 Q. As he was driving around or past you and you 6 were shooting into the passenger's side window, it was

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7 your intention to kill him; correct? 8 A. That's correct.

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Page 107 6 Q. I want to take you back to being on the 7 sidewalk, walking still on the sidewalk before you 8 step out into the street on the other side of that 9 blue car. 10 Did you see any people, any citizens on the 11 street? On the porch? Anything like that? 12 A. No, ma'am. 13 Q. When you stepped into the street and shot into 14 the car, did you see any people in the street on the 15 porches? Anything? 16 A. No, ma'am. 17 Q. Was there ever a time where you became aware 18 that there were people on the street and on the 19 porches? 22 A. I never saw any people. The only person that I 23 saw was Sergeant Dempsey, Tom Dempsey, and he would 24 have been in this area. He's the only person that I

Page 108 1 saw.

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12 Q. Did you see any police vehicle in the vicinity

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13 of Officer Dempsey, not including your police vehicle? 14 A. No, ma'am. 19 Q. Did you see any other police officers -20 A. No, ma'am. 21 Q. -- as you're walking on the sidewalk? 22 A. No, ma'am. 23 Q. As you step into the street and fire, did you 24 see any other police officers?

Page 109 1 A. No, ma'am. 2 Q. You saw no citizens, no civilians at all? 3 A. No, ma'am. 11 Q. As you're walking on the sidewalk, did you look 12 up the hill at any point to see if there was a police 13 car at the top of that hill? 14 A. No, ma'am. 15 Q. When I say "top of the hill," I'm talking about 16 the intersection of -- I guess it would be 6th and 17 Harrison. 18 A. 6th and Harrison, no, ma'am. 19 Q. After you put the car in park, did you have any

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20 bullets left in your gun?

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21 A. No.

Page 113 16 Q. So "clear backdrop" in your definition does not 17 mean there's nothing behind the target at which you're 18 shooting? 19 A. Clear backdrop in my definition -20 Q. Yes, sir. 21 A. -- would be that if I'm to discharge a round, 22 there's nothing in that sight picture that I feel that 23 I can cause harm to or damage to beyond that sight 24 picture of what I'm aiming at.

Page 114 1 Does that make sense to you? 2 Q. Yes, sir, it does. 3 So you didn't see in your backdrop David 4 Gwyn standing near his home? 5 A. I don't even know who David Gwyn is. 6 Q. In your backdrop, you didn't see the little 7 girl who was standing on the street? 8 A. I don't know of a little girl. 9 Q. In your backdrop you didn't see a Hispanic male

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10 in his early twenties standing on the street?

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11 A. No, ma'am. 12 Q. Do you know who shot the innocent bystander 13 lady in the leg in this exchange? 14 A. No, ma'am. 15 Q. Did you ever see her? 16 A. No, ma'am.

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Appendix Page B-155 Page 56 2 Q. Do you know how long, how much time passed 3 between the point at which you joined the caravan of 4 police vehicles pursuing the stolen police car, the 5 point at which you first joined to the point at which 6 you stopped firing your gun? Do you know how much 7 time passed? 8 A. I would say maybe a couple minutes. It was 9 only three blocks that I drove while I was actively 10 engaged and I would say a couple minutes, thereabouts. 11 Q. About two minutes? 12 A. I would say that would be -- somewhere in that 13 vicinity. 14 Q. Could it have been less than a minute? 15 A. Again, I'm only -- I'm only estimating. I 16 don't have a certain time frame in mind. I would say 17 certainly around two minutes, plus or minus. 18 Q. So you don't think it was as long as five or 19 ten minutes? 20 A. Certainly not.

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Page 62 5 Q. Prior to this incident, had you ever been in 6 the vicinity of 5th and Harrison Street? 7 A. Absolutely. 8 Q. Were you aware that it's a highly populated 9 area, the 500 block of Harrison Street? 10 A. As with most blocks, yeah, they are densely 11 populated, highly populated, yes.

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Appendix Page B-157 Page 75 16 Q. So at the point that you were standing where 17 the red X is marked on Exhibit Number 10, how far away 18 was the stolen vehicle from you? 19 A. I guess it was proceeding in a westbound 20 manner. 21 Q. Do you think it was yards away? Half a block 22 away? 23 A. I was at least half a block away. 24 Q. Were you crouching at all?

Page 76 1 A. No, ma'am. 2 Q. Or are you just standing there? 3 A. Standing behind the wall so I could at least 4 look down the block and get a visual on what he was 5 going to do next.

Page 77 22 Q. What did you do when you saw it stop? 23 A. At that particular time I came away from the 24 wall and stepped out in this manner and began giving

Page 78 1 verbal commands.

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Appendix Page B-158 Page 84 20 Q. All right. So you made the verbal commands. 21 Then what happens? 22 A. Vehicle starts coming towards me. I start 23 backpedalling, at which point I fear that he's going 24 to hit me, at which point I discharged my weapon.

Page 93 7 Q. As it passed you, you shot into the passenger's 8 side front window; correct? 9 A. Passenger side front window, that's correct.

Page 94 9 Q. Do you know if you hit him as you were shooting 10 through the passenger's side window? 11 A. Yes, ma'am. I know I hit him twice. 12 Q. Where do you think you hit him? 13 A. I knew I hit him in the arm region. 14 Q. You are rubbing an arm and you think you hit 15 him in the right arm? 16 A. Yes, ma'am. 17 Q. Where else do you think you hit him? 18 A. Well, I eventually know that I actually hit him 19 in the head area.

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Appendix Page B-159 Page 103 2 Q. While you were on the sidewalk before you 3 stepped into the street, did you fire any additional 4 shots? 5 A. No, ma'am. 6 Q. So you stepped into the street and you then 7 commenced firing for a third time; is that correct? 8 A. That's correct. 9 Q. Where are you pointing at this time? 10 A. I'm pointing at, I guess, the individual that's 11 driving the police car. 12 Q. Because I assume you're behind him at this 13 point, or are you still on the side? 14 A. I'm alongside of him. I'm able to -- let's see 15 here.

Page 105 11 Q. You step into the street. Do you then begin to 12 fire again into the car? 13 A. I fire, I believe, just two rounds. 14 Q. Into the car, and you're at the 3:00 position? 15 A. Towards the driver. 16 Q. Towards the driver? 17 A. That's correct.

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Page 60 22 Q. Did you write out any report? 23 A. No, ma'am, I did not. 24 Q. Why not?

Page 61 1 A. I believe -- well, I'm not sure what the policy 2 is, but I didn't have to write a report, no. 3 Q. No one asked you to write a report about what 4 happened? 5 A. No, ma'am.