By JENNIFER EMILY
The Dallas Morning News
Go to Police1 Off-Duty Survival
DALLAS, Tex. - A Dallas police officer shot while working undercover testified Wednesday that he has no doubt that the defendant is the man who shot him three times. He said the shooter’s face is burned into his memory.
“It was kind of an unforgettable event,” Senior Cpl. Mark Rickerman told the jury. “I’ve had dreams about it. I’ve seen it a dozen times in my head.”
Cpl. Rickerman told the jurors that 19-year-old Keliam Rudd is the man who shot him in December 2005 in north Oak Cliff. Cpl. Rickerman was working in plainclothes as part of an operation to target high-crime areas.
Mr. Rudd - 17 at the time of the shooting and on juvenile probation - is charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault on a public servant.
Defense attorney Scottie Allen told the jurors in opening statements that Mr. Rudd wasn’t the shooter, who emerged from the front passenger seat of a car that pulled up next to Cpl. Rickerman. Mr. Allen said Mr. Rudd was in the back seat of the car throughout the shooting.
Mr. Allen said the shooter wore a red bandana over his face, but he didn’t name him. Police reported that only two men were in the vehicle, the driver and Mr. Rudd.
Cpl. Rickerman testified that the shooter didn’t cover his face and that he didn’t see anyone in the back seat. On cross-examination by Mr. Allen, however, Cpl. Rickerman said there could have been someone in the car that he didn’t see.
That night, he said, the car pulled up next to him and the passenger got out with a gun.
“Do you know what time it is,” the man said as he stuck the weapon into Cpl. Rickerman’s side. The phrase is commonly uttered during robberies.
“Don’t shoot, don’t shoot,” Cpl. Rickerman said to the man and to alert an officer he’d been talking to on his cellphone.
Cpl. Rickerman said he handed over his wallet and didn’t identify himself as a police officer. He said he thought that telling the man he was an officer would escalate the situation.
He said his hand was in a pocket containing his badge, which apparently caused the robber to think he was hiding valuables. The man pulled Cpl. Rickerman’s hand out of his pocket and saw the badge.
The man stared at the badge.
Cpl. Rickerman stared at the badge.
Then they looked at each other.
It was one of those moments when time seems to slow down, prosecutor Damita Jo Sangermano told the jurors. She said that when Mr. Rudd saw the badge, he knew that he was robbing a police officer.
Cpl. Rickerman then pulled out his weapon, but the robber shot him in the right forearm before he could fire. The man fired again, hitting Cpl. Rickerman’s left hip.
Cpl. Rickerman returned fire but didn’t hit anyone. As the car was driven away, its rear window was shattered.
The shooter started to run but then turned and shot Cpl. Rickerman in the foot. The man then jumped on the back of the car and held on through the broken window.
Police chased the men, and their arrest a short time later was reported.
Ms. Sangermano said DNA evidence ties Mr. Rudd to the car. His hands were bloody from the broken glass.
Copyright 2007 The Dallas Morning News