May 4, 2017

APD officer does not remember wearing gloves; describes knife found on scene as "kitchen knife"


(Lawson )
Arcata Police Officer Jacob Mckenzie, second police officer to arrive at Spear Avenue and the officer who applied pressure to David Josiah Lawson's wounds, corroborated what APD officer Krystale Arminio testified to earlier this week.

New information given in his testimony was that he described the knife found under the Red Ford Mustang as a "kitchen knife". It was found "more towards the driver's side of the Mustang, near the rear tire, on grass side of the vehicle."



Officer McKenzie did not remember if he was wearing gloves when he collected the knife. He also told Deputy District Attorney Jessica Watson that he did not touch the knife where the partial finger print was located.

Officer McKenzie said from the pool of blood which was about 10-20 feet away from the Red Mustang, there was a trail of blood to where Josiah's body was found.

"A man giving rescue breaths said to the victim, 'Stay with me, I feel you. I see you."

During cross examination by Kyle Zoellner's attorney, Mr. Luke Brownfield, Officer McKenzie was questioned further about collecting the knife for evidence. After showing Officer Mckenzie a photo where he was holding the knife, photographed that night at the scene, it was established that Officer McKenzie was wearing gloves and that his fingerprint would not be on the knife.

Officer Mckenzie provided some more information on how keeping the crowd back was a constant effort during giving life saving efforts to Josiah and after the EMTs arrived. He said, "As time went on and the ambulance was not on scene, the crowd became increasingly hostile."

He did clarify that not all the people were hostile. The people on the street and in the cul-de-sac were not hostile, said Officer Mckenzie.  Even among the crowd surrounding Josiah, Officer Krystale Arminio and himself, he said it was a "mixed crowd"; some people getting angry; others helping by trying to get the angry people back so police could do their job.

"At one point when medical staff was there, I drew my taser," said Officer Mckenzie. He said he only had it out for "10-15 seconds" and was not pointing it anyone. He drew it because "there was one subject who git increasingly aggravated every time I asked him to step back. He said, 'Don't put your fucking hands on me. 'He started punching a window to a car. He never broke the window."

Officer McKenzie said he reholstered his taser after Officer Arminio gave him a look that indicated to him that this was not the time and place to draw his taser; it would make the crowd more hostile.

"At that point, another large male bear hugged him (the subject punching the window) and took him away."

9 comments:

  1. Dang! "A kitchen knife" doesn't tell us much. I want to know if it was an expensive chef's knife like the suspect owns, or something else. Hopefully we will learn today.

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    1. You are getting live updates. Instead of complaining, how about waiting for the afternoon update, which is three hours of testimony and will be up in a bit. If you want instant answers, attend court yourself. You are not paying for a court transcript, learn to be grateful. Sitting in court all day, typing throufh lunch, then typing in the evenung, going through detailed notes isnt easy. Be grateful to all media that is spending time getting you daily information on a very complex case that does not make for easy reporting.

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  2. I hope these officers receive more training because it's only getting worse in Humboldt. How do you not remember to wear gloves? It's not the officer's print, because they would've come forward with that. I think the cops need to look at the Castillos. They left the scene and came back. Rumor has it that Josiah was in a room alone with AnnAlicia that night... could be motive right there.

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    1. The officer said he could not recall. In the afternoon session during cross examination, it was established he was wearing gloves. This post was written in the morning. The afternoon testimony will be posted in a bit.

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    2. I agree, get Castillos prints because he and his brother went out to the car after the first fight. Castillo also said on the stand that he didn't want anyone blaming him for Joishas death, which is an odd statement. Guilty conscience maybe? Maybe it's true and Costillos girlfriend was in the room together.

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  3. Thank you for posting the honest truth. I was only able to sit in on Monday and my sister is keeping me updated and when I read the all of the articles from different sources, yours matches up with what she is telling me.

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  4. The only people that I've ever known to have a Scarface poster in their homes were drug dealers. It goes well with the photo on this site of the girlfriend. Her only long fingernail is the one on her pinky. The classic coke spoon fingernail.

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  5. Sounds more and more like one of Lawson's own "friends" stabbed him and targeted Zoellner when police showed up. Didn't Lawson have some alone time with one of his friends girlfriend in a room earlier? I would be shocked if one of the 9 phones that were confiscated didn't have some video on it. Seems that is the first thing people do these days when something is going down.

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    1. This was my first thought also! In this day in age everyone videos everything! Tina Sampay the "journalists" sitting in on the courts through this whole trial was in fact there at the party this night! Tina was taking pictures of everything and of Zoellner and his girlfriend and her friends. I am willing to bet my life Tina took video footage as well and I'm wondering why she hasn't come forward. From what I can see online is that anytime anyone asks Tina if she was at that party she gets aggressive or she deletes her comments. Seems to me that she might have some clues on her phone she is hiding and her phone should be searched. Tina isn't being honest either because she knows she was attending that party that night.

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