Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
Copyright 2006 San Francisco Chronicle
All Rights Reserved
The partner of slain San Francisco police Officer Isaac Espinoza testified Wednesday that Espinoza twice shouted “Stop! Police!’' before a man he was trying to question on the street spun around and opened fire.
Espinoza “never had a chance’’ to fire back, Officer Barry Parker testified in the murder trial of 23-year-old David Hill. Espinoza, 29, was hit twice outside his squad car on Newhall Street in the Bayview district and died a short time after.
Parker, 41, was wounded in the ankle during the attack April 10, 2004. The six-year department veteran’s testimony is vital for the prosecution as it seeks to undermine a defense claim that Hill -- an admitted member of a Bayview gang -- mistook the plainclothes officers for gang rivals and opened fire in self-defense.
Parker, often taking drinks of water and clearing his throat, testified calmly about the attack. But at one point, he asked for a break as he recounted the death of his partner.
Parker said he and Espinoza were part of a six-officer undercover drug unit in the Bayview that started work that Saturday at 2 p.m. Parker and Espinoza had just eaten takeout Chinese food at the Bayview station before heading onto the street at 9 p.m., driving a Ford Crown Victoria.
Parker said the Ford was readily recognized as an unmarked police car. As they turned onto Newcomb Avenue from Third Street, Parker said, “I heard, ‘Woo, woo.’ '' He said that was a common street signal indicating the presence of police.
Parker, who was driving, didn’t stop the car, he said. “I heard it so many times before, there was no need to -- everyone knows that car,’' he said.
He said he had soon spotted two men at the corner of Newcomb and Newhall. One man walked past the car without looking, and the other -- who Parker said turned out to be Hill -- turned onto Newhall. “He was walking -- he was also looking back at us,’' Parker said.
The man stopped and put his back up against a van, “shrugged his shoulders and took a deep breath,’' Parker said.
He continued south on Newhall, with the officers driving alongside him, Parker said. In the middle of the block, Espinoza shone his flashlight and Parker caught a look at the side of the man’s face. “He immediately turned and looked directly toward the car,’' he said.
The man turned away and continued walking up the block, Parker said. The officer testified that the man’s right arm was positioned as if “he was trying to conceal something from us,’' and Parker told Espinoza of his suspicion. Espinoza agreed, he said.
“Let’s stop and talk to him,’' he told Espinoza.
Parker got out and positioned himself between the open door and the driver’s seat, he testified. Espinoza got out and started walking over to the sidewalk, Parker said.
“Hey, let me talk to you!’' Espinoza said, and illuminated the man with his flashlight, Parker testified.
“I don’t have my I.D.,’' the man replied, and began walking faster, according to Parker.
Parker got back in the unmarked car to drive ahead of him. “I could see Mr. Hill; I could also see Isaac,’' he said. “Isaac was right behind him,” and yelled, “Stop! Police!” Parker said.
“As I stopped the car, I went to put the car into park,” Parker said. “The suspect, Mr. Hill, stopped, he turned suddenly and I saw the magazine -- in my mind it was an assault rifle,” Parker said. “He fired two shots.’'
Parker, a Coast Guard veteran, said he had recognized the multiple-round magazine. “I could see his left hand as the muzzle flash went off,’' he said.
As Espinoza fell to the ground, Parker said he had pulled out his gun and huddled for cover behind the open car door. He fled to the back of the car and eventually across the street as the shooting continued.
“I heard the front windshield cracking. I could hear bullets. I remember the window exploding,’' Parker testified.
Asked by prosecutor Harry Dorfman if he ever fired his weapon, Parker said: “I didn’t have a chance to.’'
He said he had lost sight of the gunman when the shooting stopped. He saw Espinoza on the sidewalk, moaning. “He was in pain,’' Parker said.
One man on a nearby street corner “smirked his lips and kept walking’’ when Parker asked which way the gunman had gone, he testified.
Parker said he had noticed later that he was limping and, after going to San Francisco General Hospital, learned that he had bullet fragments in his ankle. He has not had them removed, he testified.
Hill was arrested the following day at a hospital in San Ramon. His attorney is expected to cross-examine Parker today.