Jury Hears Dispatch Tapes Of Shooting That Left Officer Paralyzed
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The jury in the trial of James Hill heard police dispatch tapes the day of the shooting that paralyzed Officer Morgan Jenkins.
His partner, Officer Michelle Auge also testified about the altercation with James Robert Hill that April 2013 night in Homewood.
She testified that during the struggle she tried to use a Taser on Hill, but one prong went into Hill, while the other went into her leg.
Eventually, as Jenkins pursued Hill on foot, "I heard [Officer Jenkins] yell, 'I'm hit.' That's when I fired three shots. [Officer Morgan] said he was hit in his side and couldn't feel his legs."
Officer Jenkins was shot by a single bullet that pierced his bicep, continued through his lung and stopped near his spine.
Officer Jenkins also opened fire on suspect Hill, who was shot five times in the chest, hip, leg, wrist and fingers.
Authorities say Hill fired back at police after he was hit.
The jury learned why Pittsburgh police officer Morgan Jenkins is confined to a wheelchair. The neurosurgeon who treated him testified that a bullet that penetrated his spine pushed fragments into his spinal cord and that his paralysis is permanent.
On the stand today his partner Officer Michelle Auge testified about their encounter with Hill, who ran a stop sign and was pursued, as dashboard camera video shows them at 60 to 65 miles an hour.
The car Hill was driving lost control near Apple street in Homewood and then a confrontation between officers Jenkins and Auge and James Hill began in the car.
Auge testified that during the struggle, she was punched in the head repeatedly eventually suffering a concussion and a bruised orbital bone near the eye and nose.
She also testified that she tried to use a Taser on Hill, but while one cartridge hit Hill, the other hit her in the leg.
Hill eventually got away, and Jenkins pursued him.
Auge possibly feeling the effects of the battle, radioed for help.
"Apple towards Lincoln. My partner is in full pursuit," she says on the police radio.
Eventually she hears the gunfire that Hill and officer Jenkins exchanged and she runs toward them.
"Get medics. I can't get to him he's shot," she says.
"Where's he at?" asks a dispatcher.
"7000 block of Apple in the yard," she said.
The dispatcher then broadcasts, "7000 block of Apple officer down."
Once help gets to Jenkins he tells police and medics that he can't feel his legs.
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