Prosecution presents its case vs. 3 men seen beaten by police

Three shooting suspects featured in a videotaped police beating in May led cops on an adrenaline-pumping, stop-and-go chase that lasted as long as seven minutes, police testified yesterday.

As four police cars tailed the gold Mercury Grand Marquis with lights and sirens whirling, driver Brian Hall stopped the car as if to surrender. But when officers exited their vehicles with guns drawn, Hall sped off and the pursuit began again, according to Officer Lisa Heil.

For the first time since a violent May 5 arrest that sparked allegations of police brutality, the prosecution laid out its case against Dwayne "Lionel" Dyches, 25; Brian Hall, 23, and Pete Hopkins, 19.

Municipal Court Judge Nazario Jimenez Jr. held all three for trial on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, weapons possession and criminal conspiracy after Heil and other officers testified about what sparked the car stop.

The officers who testified were not involved in the beating, which was caught on tape by a Fox 29 news helicopter. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey has fired four officers and disciplined four others for their role in the beating.

Jimenez blocked defense attorneys for the three suspects from questioning the officers about the beating, saying it was not relevant to the shooting.

A grand jury - convened by Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham - is investigating whether to approve criminal charges against any officers who repeatedly struck and stomped Dyches, Hall and Hopkins as they lay on the ground. The FBI and the U.S. Justice Department are monitoring the local investigation.

Police allege that Dyches, Hall and Hopkins exited the Grand Marquis and approached three men sitting on steps at the corner of 4th and Annsbury streets in North Philadelphia at about 10 p.m. Hopkins opened fire on the men, injuring all three, and then fled in the Marquis with Hall and Dyches, police said.

Assistant District Attorney Carol Meehan Sweeney said the three shooting victims cannot identify the shooter. She also said that the undercover narcotics officer who witnessed the shooting identified Hopkins, Hall and Dyches by "factors other than face," such as clothing and body type.

Officer Carlos Buitrago, who was hiding in an unmarked police vehicle parked near the corner, testified that he had been the only officer to witness the shooting.

After exiting the car, he said, Hall walked slowly toward the corner, chatting on his cell phone. Meanwhile, Dyches and Hopkins started talking with two other men and two women. One woman said, "That's just crazy!" and then, Buitrago testified, Hopkins "raised his hand up" and pointed an object directly at the men on the corner. Then, he said, shots rang out.

"I did see muzzle flash that illuminated the area," Buitrago said.

Hopkins, who was wearing a white shirt and dark pants, ran backwards toward the Marquis, still firing the gun, Buitrago said. He jumped in the front passenger seat. Hall, a heavy-set guy in a white shirt, got behind the wheel, and Dyches, who was wearing a red jacket with white stripes, scrambled into the back seat, Buitrago testified.

Buitrago said he had described the car on the police radio.

At the time of the shooting, Officer Mario DeLaurentiis and his partner, parked a few blocks away on 4th Street, were back-up officers for Buitrago. They heard the shots and Buitrago's radio call.

DeLaurentiis said he saw a gold Grand Marquis drive off and pursued it with lights flashing.

At one point during the chase, DeLaurentiis said he saw the rear-passenger door open and someone toss something out the window.

DeLaurentiis said he went back to that area later that evening and searched the grassy island, but didn't find a gun.

Officers testified that they found the gun 25 days later in a patch of weeds not far from where police finally stopped Hall, Hopkins and Dyches on North 2nd Street, between Erie Avenue and Luzerne streets. On the night of the shooting, detectives collected 15 fired shell casings near the corner of 4th and Annsbury. Those casings matched the found gun, an officer testified.

At the end of the hearing, victim Gerald Cooper, who got shot in the leg, testified that he had been on his cell phone when he saw a flash of a gun and started running. He said he had never seen the shooter.

Evan T.L. Hughes, the attorney for Hall, argued that the charges against his client should be dismissed because there was no testimony that Hall was involved in the shooting.

"He was walking around talking on his cell phone. Shots are fired. He gets into the car," Hughes said. "All we have here is mere presence and that's not enough."

Attorney Robert Gamburg, who represents Dyches, made a similar argument. Gamburg speculated that perhaps Dyches had opened the rear car door because he contemplated jumping from the car.

"He was stuck basically for the ride," Gamburg said. "He's not the driver. He's not the shooter . . . There is simply nothing to put him involved in this."

D. Scott Perrine, the attorney for Hopkins, pointed out conflicting accounts of the shooting in police reports. Initial police reports do not name Hopkins as the shooter, though Buitrago testified that he identified Hopkins as the shooter at the scene of the car stop.

Hopkins is being held on $1 million bail. Dyches, whose bail was reduced from $1.5 million to $700,000 at a previous hearing, remains in jail. Hall, who has no criminal record, is out on $300,000 bail. *