A police officer testified on Friday that he planned to provide Ahmed Abery Before the 25-year-old black man was chased by neighbors and shot dead, he repeatedly entered the house under construction and was found escaping from the house, so a trespass warning was issued.
Green County Police Officer Robert Rash stated that he had spoken to the owner of the unfinished house many times, and the latter sent him Abery on the scene between October 25, 2019 and February 23, 2020. ‘S video-Arbury was killed five minutes later that day. The white man chased for a minute on the pickup truck.
Rush said he had been looking for Abery, who was unidentified at the time, to tell him to stay away from the house under construction. He said that the police have a standard procedure to deal with people who are found to have broken in without authorization-this is a misdemeanor under Georgia law.
“Once we get in touch with the people on the property, we will explain to them that the homeowner does not want them to be there and they have no legal reason to stay there,” Rush said. He added: “I explained to that person that if you return to this property for any reason, you will be arrested.”
Instead, Abery eventually died. On Sunday afternoon, father and son Greg and Travis McMichael armed themselves and chased him in a truck after five doors of their home from the construction site in Abery. The 52-year-old neighbor William “Rody” Bryan drove his truck to join the chase and filmed a mobile video of Travis McMichael shooting Abery with a shotgun.
More than two months later, the three men were arrested for murder and other criminal charges. Previously, the pictures and videos were leaked online and deepened the nation’s reckoning of racial injustice.
All three men were tried in the Green County Court on the coast of Brunswick on charges of murder and other crimes. The defense lawyer said that these people reasonably suspected that Abery was a thief and tried to arrest him and hand him over to the police. They said that 35-year-old Travis McMichael shot in self-defense when Arbery attacked with his fist.
Larry English, who owns the unfinished house, said there is no evidence that Arbery stole anything from the site. However, he said he was worried that the same person would keep entering the house after dark.
Rash is a patrol assigned nearby. He said he was trying to find the young man with tattoos and short hair. He was recorded in the English house. He shared these clips with neighbors, including 65-year-old Greg McMichael.
Rush said he shared Greg McMichael’s phone number in English in a text message, which pointed out that Greg McMichael was a former police officer and a retired investigator of the local district attorney. He said that it was Greg McMichael’s idea to let the British know that he could help take care of the property.
“Do you represent Greg McMichael? Did you give him any power as a police officer?” Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski asked Rush.
“No, ma’am,” the police officer replied. If the man was found inside the house again, he never planned to let Greg McMichael do anything, so he could only call the police.
“Greg is trained and experienced,” Rush said. “In my opinion, he will be an expert witness for the 911 call.”
On February 11, 2020, less than two weeks before Arbery’s death, after Travis McMichael called 911 and reported seeing the same person outside the unfinished house, Rash was sent to the neighborhood again-and told the dispatcher that person Reached out to touch his pocket, as if he had a gun.
The jury saw Rush’s body camera video, which showed him holding a flashlight and drawing a gun into the house under construction. Rush said that Travis McMichael’s report stated that the man might be carrying a weapon, which made him more potentially threatening.
“So this is a different situation,” said Robert Rubin, one of Travis McMichael’s lawyers. “You have to enter the house with someone who may have a gun.”
The defense lawyer argued that it made sense for the McMichaels to arm themselves before chasing Abery because they feared that he might have a gun. After the shooting, the police determined that Abery was unarmed.
Rubin also asked Rush whether anyone nearby said they had seen Abery jogging nearby when the police officer showed them his photos taken from a security camera.
“I didn’t specifically ask,’Have you ever seen this man jogging?'” Rush said. “But no one has seen him in the nearby period.”
© 2021 Canadian Press
