Man who killed Dallas cop claims self-defense

January 14, 2009 04:48 AM

Officer Down: Senior Corporal Norman Smith

By Scott Goldstein
Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — The man accused of killing a veteran police officer last week in southern Dallas says he acted in self-defense because he did not know the people at his apartment door were police.

Charles Patrick Payne, 26, claimed in a television interview Tuesday with KDFW-TV (Channel 4) at the Dallas County Jail that he heard a knock at his door, asked who it was and got no response.

“As soon as I cracked the door, boom, somebody hit me in the face with the door,” Payne said. “I don’t know who it is. Nobody didn’t say nothing. So how was I supposed to know who these people are?

“So I reacted. I felt my life was in danger; I reacted.”

Payne, 26, faces a charge of capital murder in the fatal shooting Jan. 6 of Senior Cpl. Norman Smith, 43, who was attempting to serve a felony warrant on another man at the apartment on Wadsworth Drive.

Dallas police said that Payne asked who was there from behind the door and that Smith responded with a fake name to lure him. When Payne opened the door, investigators said Smith, in uniform, yelled “Police! Police!”

Shots were immediately fired from inside, police said. Payne tried to close the door, and Smith pushed back and was shot one time in the head, police said.

The shooting continued as Smith’s colleagues pulled the mortally wounded officer away.

Someone called 911 from the apartment after the shooting. Payne claimed in the interview it was him calling for help, though police have said it is unclear who made the call.

Police found a hidden .38-caliber handgun, marijuana and cocaine inside the apartment.

William Jobe, 29, also in the apartment, was arrested on the felony warrant that the officers were trying to serve. A third man was questioned and released, police said.

Asked how he feels about Smith’s death, Payne said, “I got plenty of remorse for that man.”

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