From officer James Forbes' Dec. 9 police statement: "We drove up the street, my partner and I got out of the truck. I observed the police officer lying on his back on the sidewalk in front of 1232 Locust St. He was bleeding from his head. I ran back to the truck, informed radio that a policeman had been shot. I ran back to the sidewalk where I observed a Negro male sitting on the curb within three or four feet of the officer.
"The male said 'I'm shot, I'm shot.' This man was wearing a green jacket. I could see blood on the right side.
"I observed a second Negro male, wearing a blue jacket and blue cap standing at the wall of 1232 Locust. He said, 'I ain't got nothing to do with it.' I observed that this male had blood on his left cheek. Other police officers were arriving at this time, I went to the curb and recovered two revolvers. After I picked up the guns, I went to a second male and held him by the arm. Other officers came over and transported him to Homicide.
"I picked up the weapons because I saw an intoxicated white male walk down from the corner. I was concerned about him going near the weapons."
From his Dec. 16 statement: "I observed my partner next to the injured officer kneeling down and when I looked at the male still sitting on the curb, [he] was sort of swaying back and forth as if he was going to keel over. I observed a small revolver about a foot from the male's left side. I observed a second revolver which was laying in the street between the curb and the stopped Volkswagen near the passenger side door. I retreived this weapon by the handgrips also and could see immediately that this revolver was a .38-caliber."
Scene of the CrimeChronologyDefense Motion