A white police officer accused of fatally shooting an unarmed black woman holding her 1-year-old son thought he was being fired upon by a drug dealer when he pulled the trigger, his attorney said Tuesday.
The death of 26-year-old Tarika Wilson set off protests and debate about race relations in this northwest Ohio city, where one in four residents is black.
Sgt. Joseph Chavalia heard gunshots that two fellow SWAT team officers fired at pit bulls released from a first-floor back bedroom by drug dealer Anthony Terry, defense attorney Bill Kluge said during opening arguments in Chavalia's trial.
The dogs were released as Chavalia headed upstairs. He saw movement and fired through stairway railings into a second-story bedroom where Wilson was partially behind a door with her six children, said Prosecutor Jeffrey Strausbaugh.
Chavalia has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor counts of negligent homicide and negligent assault. He faces up to eight months in jail if convicted of both counts. An all-white jury was selected Monday with a black woman and a white woman as alternates.
Keith Williamson, an investigator with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, testified that Chavalia was about 5 feet away from Wilson when he shot her, striking her in the neck and chest.
Her son, Sincere Wilson, was hit in the shoulder and hand, Strausbaugh said. One of the boy's fingers was later amputated.
Wilson was Terry's girlfriend. Her family has said she was an innocent bystander when officers burst in looking for Terry during the Jan. 4 raid.
Kluge blamed Terry for putting his girlfriend in the line of fire and described the scene as chaotic, with other officers also believing they were under fire.
It's not like they had a couple minutes to come in and decide what to do, Kluge said. These decisions are made in milliseconds.
Officers were told before the raid that children were likely inside the house, based on sightings of toys outside, Strausbaugh said.
Lima police Sgt. Ronald Holman, who planned the raid, testified that he went into the home behind Chavalia and followed him up the stairs. He said he heard gunfire but wasn't sure where it was coming from. He then heard more shots fired and knew Chavalia was firing, but he didn't see what he was firing at.
If Sgt. Chavalia believed he was being fired at, he took the appropriate action, Holman said.
Holman said he went up the stairs and saw Wilson's right arm inside a doorway with a cell phone in her hand. He then went in the room.
She was on her knees, he testified. She had severe wounds and was holding her 1-year-old son.
Holman said he picked up the boy, put him on a bed and wrapped a blanket around his bleeding shoulder before carrying him down to paramedics.
Chavalia didn't go into the room and Holman did not know where he was, he testified.
Timothy Goedde, a drug investigator with Lima police, testified that he was standing outside the house during the raid and heard other officers clearly yelling for everyone inside to get down on the ground.
Answering a question from Kluge, Goedde said anyone who was moving behind a door and not on the ground would have to be considered a threat.
Kluge asked Goedde what would happen if someone in the house wouldn't comply with orders to get down. He answered: I'd fire.
Terry pleaded guilty in March to charges of drug trafficking.
