By Louis Hansen
Virginian-Pilot
CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Police Officer Sean Fleming told a jury Monday that he feared two suspects circling his truck were trying to execute him during a June highway shootout.
Fleming arrived at George Washington Highway near an on-ramp to Interstate 64 to back up fellow officers, he said. Fleming said he saw two men crossing the road.
One man, later identified as Christopher White, carried an AK-47 rifle. White spotted Fleming and began shooting, the officer said.
Pinned inside his Jeep Wrangler and under fire, Fleming said, he ducked under his steering wheel and reloaded his pistol. “I thought they were in concert and were going to circle around and execute me,” Fleming said.
At a prosecutor’s direction, Fleming pointed out the spots on the bullet-resistant vest where he was struck. He said he was hit five times.
White died in the shootout. Dedrion Short and Willie Simmons are charged with seven felonies apiece, including the first-degree murder of Tione Vincent, whose body was found in the back of a van that led police on the chase from Norfolk to Chesapeake.
Before Fleming’s testimony, the lawyers for Simmons and Short asked Circuit Judge John W. Brown to declare a mistrial. They argued that the trial was harmed when a prosecution witness claimed Friday that Short was flashing gang signs.
Short said he was adjusting his suit. Brown denied the motion.
Prosecutors called several police witnesses on the third day of the trial.
Fleming testified that he left his police precinct after 4 p.m. While driving home, he saw two officers tailing a white van, he said. He turned on his police radio and saw the van run a red light, he said. Still wearing his uniform and protective vest, Fleming said he waited until the light turned green and joined the pursuit .
When he reached the 800 block of George Washington Hwy. , he spotted two men crossing the road, he said. White shouldered his weapon and fired. Fleming shot back through his windshield, he said.
A police technician later testified that more than 60 shots were fired.
At the end of the shootout, White lay dead on the shoulder of the road. Prosecutors said he killed himself.
Fleming said he squeezed out of his car and ran back toward a group of officers.
Police Officer Stephen Parker testified that he saw Fleming stumbling back from his vehicle.
Parker and another officer grabbed him and laid him on the ground, he said. “We pulled his shirt off and his Kevlar vest off, and that’s when I saw the wounds,” Parker said.
Fleming said he spent five days in the hospital. He is back on duty but still carries shrapnel in his body, he said.
Defense attorneys maintained that Short and Simmons did not fire weapons during the melee. For a second day, no eyewitnesses testified they saw either man carry or shoot a weapon. Both men surrendered to police without struggle, according to testimony from arresting officers.
Police Officer C.J. Jancewicz said he searched Simmons after h e was arrested. When asked to identify Simmons in the courtroom, however, he described Short.
Under questioning, Jancewicz said his memory was faulty and identified Simmons.
Copyright 2010 Virginian-Pilot