By Stephanie Barry
The Springfield Republican
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A city police officer told a prosecutor he was in shock when he realized he and two family members were under gunfire on a nearly deserted city street last year.
Patrolman Alexandros Lalos took the witness stand on Wednesday, the second day of an ongoing trial in Hampden Superior Court. Two city men are on trial in connection with an alleged attempted shooting during a car chase on March 17, 2008.
Frank N. D’Agostino and Louis Saccamando, both 26, are accused of assault with intent to murder and weapons charges stemming from the incident. Lalos testified D’Agostino fired several shots at him out the window of an SUV, while the defense has argued Lalos provoked them and had a score to settle.
Lalos testified he was off-duty after working a night shift, traveling with his wife and nephew in the car. Lalos said he intended to take his nephew, Francesco Rovelli, to the hospital after Rovelli reported he had been deliberately struck by a car earlier that day.
Just after midnight, Rovelli shouted that his two assailants were stopped at a gas station in Forest Park as Lalos drove by. Lalos testified he came to an abrupt halt, wheeled his car around to get the license plate and began tailing the vehicle.
“I heard some pops. To be honest, I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t even believe it was happening,” Lalos said of the first of four occasions he testified Saccamando strained out the passenger window of an SUV and shot at his car.
During cross-examination Wednesday, defense lawyers questioned Lalos’ motives and his portrayal of the incident as an attempt to get the defendants’ license plate.
“You’re traveling at a low rate of speed and doing nothing to engage this car?” Daniel R. Bergin, a lawyer for D’Agostino, asked Lalos. “All the while, gunshots were ringing out . . . and your wife and nephew were in the car?”
Lalos said he was following the car at a reasonable speed and at a safe distance. However, previous witnesses - including fellow officers Lalos radioed for help - testified that he was speeding at approximately 60 to 70 miles per hour through streets in this city and East Longmeadow.
On-duty police ultimately boxed in the defendants’ car on a side street, recovering two weapons, bullets and shell casings, according to testimony.
Defense lawyer Daniel D. Kelly asked Patrolman Thomas Hervieux, a prosecution witness and among the first to arrive on the scene when the defendants were pulled over, whether he would have continued a high-speed chase with his family in the car.
“No, I would not,” Hervieux answered.
“Why?” Kelly asked.
“Precious cargo,” the officer said.
Testimony in the jury-waived trial is expected to conclude today. Judge C. Brian McDonald will decide the case. The defendants could face 20 years in prison if convicted on the assault charge.
Copyright 2009 The Republican