Ex-cop Richard DeCoatsworth on trial for assault
The once-hero cop is accused of attacking his girlfriend in May of last year.
THE AGGRAVATED assault trial of former decorated Philadelphia cop Richard DeCoatsworth started dramatically yesterday with the prosecutor standing in front of the jury shouting, "Jimmy, help me! Help me Jimmy. Help me!"
That's what DeCoatsworth's girlfriend, Sadie Martinez, 29, allegedly shouted after fleeing the Port Richmond home they shared to escape the beating the muscular ex-cop was giving her about 1 a.m. May 9, 2013, Assistant District Attorney James Stinsman told the jury in his opening statement.
Martinez, suffering from a busted lip and scratches on her neck, was shouting for Philadelphia Police Sgt. James Keenan, who lived next door to the couple on Salmon Street near Somerset, Stinsman said.
"A battered woman. A woman with a fat, swollen, bloody lip," is how he described Martinez, who testified for several hours and is scheduled to return to the witness stand today.
DeCoatsworth choked her and punched her in the mouth during a heated argument then fled in his Corvette, Stinsman said.
"Sadie said he beat me," testified Keenan, who let her inside and whose roommate called police. "She was screaming as loud and you can."
Defense lawyer L. George Parry said there was no beating.
Martinez's neck was scratched when DeCoatsworth, 28, "used reasonable force" to move her out of his way so he could leave the house, Parry said. The zipper of her hoodie scratched her neck when he grabbed her, he said.
Her lip was bloodied, Parry said, after the couple went outside and the palm of DeCoatsworth's hand made contact with her mouth after he stopped her from taking a brick to his Corvette.
"You may use justifiable reasonable force to prevent someone from damaging your property," Parry said.
DeCoatsworth retired from the police force in December 2011, capping a five-year career that included surviving a shotgun blast to the face, being invited to Washington to attend President Obama's first Congressional address and being sued several times for misconduct.
In May 2013, DeCoatsworth - by then addicted to heroin - was arrested for allegedly attacking Martinez and two other women whom prosecutors said were his prostitutes.
After spending 16 months in jail awaiting trial on rape, human trafficking and related charges, DeCoatsworth was freed on his own recognizance in September after the District Attorney's Office dropped all charges except those related to Martinez.
Martinez testified yesterday that she and DeCoatsworth met as students at Benjamin Franklin High School and began to date around 2007. At times, "He put his hands on me," she said, convincing her to end the relationship in May 2013.
"I couldn't take it no more. The arguments, the [abuse]. I was frustrated," Martinez said.
During cross-examination, Parry hammered her credibility by noting numerous discrepancies between her testimony yesterday and what she said to police the day of the incident and in two earlier court hearings.
For example, earlier Martinez said DeCoatsworth brandished a gun, but did not mention a gun yesterday.