Jury Hears Tape Of Officer Shot By Fleeing Suspect

BERKELEY, Calif. Oct.1 2007 (BCN) -- Jurors today heard a tape of a Berkeley police officer who was shot by a Berkeley man with a long criminal record and was trying to flee from officers who tried to stop him after he was speeding in the early morning hours of May 17, 2005.

In the first day of testimony in the trial of Howard Street, 38, on charges that he attempted to murder officer Darren Kacalek, prosecutor Michael Nieto played a tape in which Kacalek referred to Street and said, "He's got a gun! He shot me twice!"

Kacalek survived the incident and is expected to testify later today.

Nieto told jurors in his opening statement last Thursday that Street shot Kacalek, now 31, once in the chest with a handgun and fired another shot that grazed Kacalek's hairline but didn't damage his head. Testifying as the first witness in the case, Berkeley officer Brian Hartley said he and another officer tried to stop Street when they saw him speeding in a stolen Ford Mustang at the intersection of 6th Street and University Avenue, near Interstate Highway 80, about 2:35 a.m. on May 17, 2005.

Hartley said after Kacalek joined the pursuit, he heard two shots fired with a short delay in between then heard "about a dozen rapid-fire." But he said other officers soon arrived at the scene and Street and another man were then arrested.

Street's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Andrew Steckler, said in his opening statement that Street will take the witness stand during his trial and admit that he shot Kacalek.

But Street said will deny that he was involved in a separate incident in which he's accused of first-degree residential burglary, carjacking and assault with a firearm in connection with the robbery and shooting of 50-year-old Gerald Sims in an Oakland motel room on May 5, 2005.

Steckler said he believes that the evidence in Street's trial will show that Street believed he acted in self-defense when he fired at officer Kacalek because he thought the officer was pointing a gun at him.

Steckler said he thinks the most serious charge Street should be convicted of is attempted voluntary manslaughter.

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