Day One: Blood, brain matter found on side of car door

Officer Stanley Fernalld has taken the stand. He says he is in his 4th year as a Utica Police Officer. He says he is assigned to a uniformed patrol division. He was also working 4 p.m. to midnight that night in April, like many of the other Police witnesses on the stand today.

He says his Zone that night was North Utica. He was patrolling that zone without a partner, he said. This Zone (Zone 58) is not his normal zone, but he explains that he, like several other officers get rotating zone shifts.

He says that night he was by the recyclying center on Wurz Ave and Leland Ave, working on reports in his car when he heard a radio transmission about a vehicle stop. Fernalld says that shortly after hearing about the red neon traffic stop, he then heard the call of shots fired.

Fernalld says he then moved toward Genesee Street, but was not dispatched to Neilson Street. He said he just moved to Genesee Street to be closer to the scene if needed. He says he was on Genesee when he heard another radio transmission, this one of "officer down."

Upon hearing this, the officer says he then put on his lights and sirens and headed swiftly toward the Neilson Street area. It was on his way that he heard the BOLO (Be On the Look Out for) for the red Neon. He says he headed down John Street in Utica, when he observed a Red Neon on the side of the road facing north, and travelling at a high rate of speed, he sped past the vehicle. However, he says he did notices a male and female of hispanic descent were standing in the road with the driver side door open.

Fernalld says he turned around believing it to be the suspect vehicle, parked his car and then he approached the male and female outside the car. He said the male pleaded "I didn't do it" as Officer Fernalld approached.

Fernalld drew his weapon and ordered them to the ground, and he says he let headquarters know he was "out with the suspect vehicle." He says that it was only about 10 seconds that transpired from him exiting his car to the male and female being ordered to the ground.

At this time, other people had exited the church on John Street. The Officer says those people did not interfere and that he did not ask THEM to get to the ground; only the original male and female he found at the scene.

The Officer says his sergeant then arrived at the scene, and while she kept other people away from the area, he frisked the male and found no weapons. He describes the male as wearing a dark colored hat, baseball cap, and jeans.

After frisking the male, Officer Fernalld says the male and female were handcuffed and it was at that time that two ziploc bags fell from the male's person, which looked, to him, to be marijuana. Another ziploc contained several empty, smaller, ziploc baggies.

A parole officer who had since arrived to the scene, helped remove items from the male's pocket, which included a baggie with an offwhite chunky substance, which the officer said he recognized as crack-cocaine.

Officer Fernalld says at this point, he still had not learned the identity of this person.

As the male and female were being taken into custody, Officer Fernalld said that the male yelled "a black guy in a hoodie did it." When taken back to the patrol vehicle, Fernalld said the male remained in a hysterical state.

The D.A. has handed over a brown paper bag to the officer, which the officer says is an evidence bag. The officer pulls a baseball cap out of the bag, which he identifies as the hat recovered from the male suspect that night.

After that, the Officer remained on scenem securing the "crime scene" on John Street.

Officer Fernalld said that the scene was "chaotic," with numerous officers joining him at the scene shortly after the arrest. He said that it was pointed out to him at the scene (though he could not recall by whom) that there was blood and pieces of brain matter on the side of the Neon's door.

At a later point in the evening, Officer Fernalld went back to his patrol vehicle, he said, where he found what the D.A. referred to as "items." Handing over another evidence bag to the Officer, he finds a pack of Newports, and a New York State Benefits Card.

The D.A. asks if the items were placed in his patrol car by him. He says no, and mentions that the benefit card belonged to a Naomi Diaz. He then says, after being asked by the D.A. that he later learned the identity of the two people he had handcuffed and arrested as Naomi Diaz and Sammy Rivera.

More evidence begins making its way out as the D.A. presents Officer Fernalld with more brown bags and asking him to look inside. The Officer pulled out a jacket worn by Sammy Rivera when the Officer stopped him and arrested him.