By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A WOMAN testified in the Coroner’s Court yesterday that footage capturing the aftermath of Deangelo Evans’ police-involved killing in 2018 was erased after police confiscated her phone, but that she later retrieved the video with the help of Evans’ father.
Patricia Charles’ footage showed the 20-year-old Evans bleeding on the road as a crowd confronted police in the chaotic aftermath of his shooting death on Masons Addition in 2018.
She testified yesterday that the gun that officers claimed Evans had before they killed him only appeared at the scene after police taped off the area.
She said she and her young niece were walking near Sandy Lane on May 27, 2018, when a police Jeep rushed by them. Not long after, she said gunshots went off like firecrackers.
She claimed she saw Evans raise his hands in the air as two officers approached him before opening fire within two to three seconds.
She said she ducked for cover behind a wall and was about five to six feet away from where Evans was shot. She said she saw Evans fall face down.
She said about 20 to 30 minutes after he was shot, a crowd of about 80 people swarmed the area as police began to cordon off the site.
She claimed it was then that a gun suddenly appeared near the victim’s hand.
She said police later confiscated the Samsung phone on which she recorded the developments.
She alleged that when her phone was returned to her, all the footage she had taken that day was cleared from her gallery. She said the officer who took her phone left a card so she could contact police to give evidence about the incident.
She said she later gave that card and her phone to Evans’ father to recover footage of the shooting.
When the allegedly retrieved video was played in court yesterday, Ms Charles and several of Evans’ family members became emotional.
The footage showed Evans bleeding on the ground wearing a red jacket and white basketball shirt as two male civilians tried to help him. Meanwhile, a hostile crowd confronted the officers, shouting. Soon afterwards, the footage ended abruptly.
Under questioning from K Melvern Rolle, Ms Charles said she could not remember seeing his two clients, Corporal Wright and Inspector Wilson. She said she blocked out details of the weapons they had. She said she only recalled that the officers wore navy blue and that she saw them go to their jeep before she started recording.
She denied the suggestion that her video was fabricated.
“I don’t gain nothing from lying. I have no reason to lie cuz I ain’t gaining anything,” she said.
Asked why she didn’t present evidence to the police, she said she does not trust the police. She said she testified because she believes Evans’ family deserves justice.
Under examination by Romona Farquharson-Seymour, lawyer for Evans’ estate, Ms Charles said she remembered thinking: “Why would they shoot this boy?”
She said she never saw Evans with a gun.
Additionally, Evans’ great aunt, Ethel Rolle, testified that Evans was living with her on Whitfield Street before his death.
She said the morning he was killed, she asked him to get something from the store. She said he got the wrong item and went back to the shop for the right product.
She said when Evans returned, he told her he was going to see his cousin Eddy. She said about 45 minutes later, she heard gunshots and was later told by a woman: “The police shot Dee.”
She said the next time she saw Evans’ body was at a funeral home.
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