Detective testifies in hearing on alleged officer shooter Najee Harmon
Moments after Najee Harmon was wheeled into the courtroom, bound to a wheelchair, his lawyer claimed unfair treatment.
\"By treating him different, by putting him in a wheelchair with handcuffs, by having this security standing in the courtroom and outside the courtroom around him, the symbolism being portrayed that Mr. Harmon is guilty.\"
Harmon’s lawyer, Calvin Malone compared the treatment to the confederate flag, saying they were making the 21-year-old a symbol of presumed guilt.
Judge Donald Joseph partly agreed, asking some officers to leave but saying the rest was out of his control.
\"I don't think it's necessary to be where you're at, he's handcuffed, he's not going anywhere, I would ask that you either take a seat or go wherever you want but you don't need to be right there,\" Judge Joseph said.
For the first time, we heard the sequence of events on the day of the shooting. Detective Brett Houston testified that officers spotted the 21-year-old sitting in a stolen car on North 60th street. A neighbor outside then witnessed the following…
\"He saw the two plain clothed officers and the uniformed officer exit their vehicles and draw their weapons and tell the subject in the stolen car not to move,\" Houston said.
Harmon ran but then allegedly pulled out a gun.
\"He took a handgun and started firing several shots at the officers,\" Houston said.
Wauwatosa detective Jeff Griffin was shot near his pelvis, officers returned fire but Harmon eluded the officers. It took a 24-hour manhunt before Harmon
was caught and arrested.
However, Harmon's lawyer says that witnesses and the detective did not thoroughly describe his client.
Malone questioned the detective, \"so he said nothing about dreadlocks?
The detective answered, “He said the hair was in a short ponytail, I don't recall that he speculated that there were dreadlocks in that ponytail.\"
Malone pointed out that Harmon has dreadlocks and facial hair, but neither the witness nor detective pointed it out. Malone asked for the case to be dismissed, the judge ultimately decided the case would go to trial.