Day One: Rizanovic couldn't identify Rivera

Defense attorney Rebecca Wittman questions Rizanovic about his inability to identify the driver of the Neon.

When asked if to this day of Sammy Rivera, is in fact the driver he saw, Rizanovic says "no."

She says that when he gave the officers his statement of events, that he gave the same statement today about what he COULD see about the driver. When she asks him if she got a clear look at the driver during the stop, he says "It was a BRIEF stop."

"But it was a stop," she says.

She emphasizes, and he agrees, that he was able to see the face of the driver, which he described as a white male, or a light-skinned hispanic male, 25 years old. He says that in his deposition that the hair looked black and curly, close-cropped.

He says that he was not able to accurately identify the clothes the driver was wearing, saying possible a denim shirt or jacket.

Wittman asks him how much time passed between him leaving Lindsey at the scene of the traffic stop and getting the call of "Officer Down," but Rizanovic can't remember.

When she asks how much time it took him to return to the scene, he says 30 seconds. Wittman then pulls out an aerial map of the City of Utica used earlier. She asks him to identify Mohawk Street, and then the intersection of Mohawk and Eagle Streets. He does so on a digital map that allows marking that the jury as well as attorney's can see on a large monitor.

He then shows where Eagle intersects Nielson, reiterating his statement that he said it took him 30 seconds.

He says he observed nothing on his way over there. Specifically asked if he saw anyone fleeing a scene, he responds "no."

He testifies that Lindsay's Zone was always Zone 57. She asks if Lindsey had any routine that would put him in the area of Nielson between 9 and 9:30 p.m. He is then excused from the stand.