"Now, really, Detective Wade ...”
"Yes, sir, in that we knew where they were and we went there as soon as we could to make the arrest. As it was, by the time we got there, the girl had already told them we were on the way, and we walked into a hostage situa ...”
"That's the subject of another trial," Di Pasco said.
"I wasn't going to talk about that in detail, sir," Wade said. "I was only trying to explain why we felt time was of the essence, that's all, Your Honor.”
"Are you familiar with Police Department guidelines regarding the use of deadly force?”
Addison asked.
"I am.”
"Do those guidelines dictate when a pistol may be unholstered?”
"They do.”
“And when a pistol may be fired?”
"They do.”
"You testified earlier that the first time you saw the Uzi pistol was in a hallway at 1143 Talley Road ...”
"That's correct.”
"... and that it was in the right hand of the defendant.”
"That's also correct.”
"Had you already unholstered your pistol by that time?”
"Yes, sir. A felony was in progress.
The guidelines specifically state that a pistol may be unholstered if it is evident that a felony is in progress.”
"Had you already fired your pistol by that time?”
"Yes, sir. As a defensive measure.”
"Were you being threatened by the defendant at that time?”
"The defendant was holding an Uzi assault pistol in his hand. This was the same make and caliber pistol that had fired the murder bullets.”
"So, naturally, you assumed this was the murder weapon.”
"Well, it seemed logical to me that if here's the man Dolly Simms told us had fired at us six nights ago ...”
"Did you assume this was the murder weapon?
Yes or no?”
"Yes.”
"And on that basis, you fired your pistol at the defendant.”
"On the basis that we were confronting a man holding a weapon that was used in a previous felony, yes.”
"By `we,` whom do you mean?”
"Me and Detective Carella.”
"You and Detective Carella were both in the-by the way, how did you come to be in that hallway?”
"We were waiting in the basement for the signal to assault.”
"The signal from whom?”
"Inspector William Cullen Brady, commanding officer of the Hostage Negotiating Team.”
"Your Honor ...”
"Your Honor, I'm sorry," Wade said, "but it was a hostage situation there, and it's impossible for me to talk about it without saying what it was. The two men were holding this young girl hostage. That was the felony in progress, Your Honor. That was what gave me the right to draw my gun.”
"Are you allowing that, Your Honor?”
"Let it stand.”
Addison sighed heavily. "So you were waiting in the basement," he said, "you and Carella ...”
"Yes, sir.”
"... for the signal to assault.”
"Yes.”
"I expect you got that signal ...”
"We did.”
"... and came out into the hallway.”
"Yes.”
"Was the defendant surprised?”
"I don't know what he was.”
"Well, did he look surprised?”
"He looked surprised, yes.”
"He wasn't expecting you, was he?”
"No, he wasn't expecting us.”
"Then he was surprised, isn't that correct?”
"I suppose he was surprised.”
"Surprised to see you.”
"Yes.”
"You and Detective Carella, in that hallway, with guns in your hands. Had both of you unholstered your guns by then?”
"Yes.”
"Did both of you assume that the man there in that hallway with you was a murderer?”
"I don't know what Carella assumed. I know what I myself thought.”
"Yes, what did you think, Detective Wade? Tell us what you thought in that split second before you shot Samson Cole.”
"I thought here's a man with a deadly weapon in his hand, I better take him out before he hurts somebody.”
"Take him out?" Addison asked, looking astonished. "Am I to understand that you shot to kill?”
"No, sir, I shot to take him out. That's not to kill him, I didn't shoot to waste him, I didn't shoot to box him. I shot to take him out. Knock him down before he could hurt anybody.”
"Where did you shoot him?”
"In the leg.”
“Were you aiming for his leg?”
"I was.”
"And that's where you got him.”
"Yes. His right leg.”
"You must be a good shot.”
"I am.”
"Took him out with that single shot, is that right?”
"Yes, sir.”
"Knocked him down.”
"Yes.”
"Then what?”
"He sat up and turned the Uzi on us. I kicked it out of his hand and we subdued him.”
"How?”
"I don't remember.”
Carella remembered. Sitting there in the third row of the courtroom, watching Wade as he recited impassively the events of those empty hours of the night on that early August morning last year, he remembered it all, Wade's bullet catching Cole in the right leg and knocking him off his feet, Wade kicking the Uzi out of his hand as Cole tried to sit up and raise the gun into a firing position, Carella kneeing him under the chin and slamming him onto his back on the linoleum-covered floor in the narrow corridor.
Green linoleum, he remembered now. Yellow flowers in the pattern. Green and yellow and Sonny Cole's wide-open brown eyes as Carella put the muzzle of his gun in the hollow of his throat, and beside him Wade whispered, "Do it.”
"... aware, are you not, Detective Wade, that the guidelines specifically prohibit using a weapon as a means of apprehension?”
"I did not use it to apprehend the defendant.”
"Then what do you call it when the man has not threatened you, the man is surprised by you as you burst into that hallway, the man does not even turn the gun on you until after you've shot him, what do you call that if not using your weapon as a means of apprehension?”
"Sir, when a man has a semiautomatic pistol in his hand, that is threatening, sir. And in a situation such as that, firing in self-defense is permissible.”
"Even if the man makes no threatening gesture with the pistol?”
"Sir, I consider a pistol in a man's hand to be very threatening.”
"Well, that's for the jury to decide, isn't it?”
"Yes, sir, but it was also for me to decide right there on the spot. I know what the guidelines say, I'd better know what they say. I had maybe five seconds to make my decision, and I made it.”
"No further questions," Addison said.
Lowell rose and walked toward the witness chair.
"I just wanted to clear up one point," he said. "You testified that you had already recovered bullets that had been fired at you ...”
"Yes.”
"... and spent cartridge casings as well.”
"Yes.”
"Under what circumstances had you recovered these bullets and casings?”
"An informer had told us that two men-who might've been the ones we were looking for-were holed up in an abandoned building on Sloane.
So we went there to check it out.”
"When was this?”
"On the twenty-sixth of July.”
"What happened when you got there?”
"We were shot at, which enabled us to recover the four casings, but only three bullets. We couldn't find a fourth bullet.”
"What did you do with these?”
"My partner bagged them and tagged them and sent them to Ballistics.”