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Subject: Mt. Pleasant Case Turns on Story Told By Student's Photos<By Linda
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 05:06:14 EST
Message-ID: <33.1992Nov6.050614@AmeriCast.com>

Mt. Pleasant Case Turns on Story Told By Student's Photos<By Lin-
da Wheeler=Washington Post Staff Writer=

The color photograph shows a man with a bloody chest wound, his
hands stretched above his head and a knife at his feet. That pic-
ture and several others have become the centerpiece of the trial
of Daniel Enrique Gomez, the man whose arrest and shooting by
police sparked three nights of violence in May 1991 in the Mount
Pleasant and Adams-Morgan neighborhoods.

The photographs, presented as evidence by the prosecution, clear-
ly show a bloody knife on the pavement near Gomez. They also show
that his hands were not cuffed behind his back. The civil distur-
bance was touched off when word spread through the community that
police had shot a Latino man whose hands were cuffed behind him.

Police said then, and have testified at the trial in D.C. Superi-
or Court, that Gomez was shot because he lunged at an officer
with a knife.

The photographs taken by a neighborhood resident, Caroline
Molivadas, are the only photographs of the immediate aftermath of
the shooting that have been made public. They are being shown to
the jury on a TV screen with small details greatly enlarged.

Gomez, 30, is charged with assault on a police officer and as-
sault on a police officer with a dangerous weapon. The prosecu-
tor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel S. Seikaly, says Gomez lunged
at an officer with a knife and was shot by her.

Defense attorney John Karr has said he will show that Gomez did
not have a knife, that his hands were cuffed behind his back and
that he was shot accidentally by a rookie officer. Karr told D.C.
Superior Court Judge Mildred Edwards yesterday that he believes
police are trying to cover up what really happened.

Molivadas, 28, a student at the University of Maryland, said she
took the photographs for herself and gave them to police only
when subpoenaed.

"I was concerned the man would not get proper medical attention,"
she said outside the courtroom yesterday. "I had heard the ambu-
lances were slow, and I thought I should take pictures of the
scene."

She said she used an automatic, fixed-lens camera and took the
pictures only after someone in the "I was concerned the man would
not get proper medical attention. I had heard the ambulances were
slow, and I thought I should take pictures of the scene."<

- Caroline Molivadas>

crowd at the scene said someone should take pictures.

"I ran home and got my camera," she told the jury. "I shot off a
roll of 24 or 36 (exposures). Then I got four more rolls. But
only the first ones were shot at the right exposure." Seikaly re-
peatedly has shown the jury photographs made by Molivadas. With
the video equipment, he is able to zoom and show the knife lying
in the street, Gomez's hands above his head and the police off-
icers.

In the interview, Molivadas, who had lived in the area for more
than 10 years, said she took photographs from all sides of the
street, even climbing atop a mailbox to get a better angle.

She said many of those around her were speaking in Spanish and
were angry about what had happened.

"I asked someone to translate for me, and they said everyone
thought the man had been handcuffed when he was shot," she said.

She said during her testimony that when she arrived at the scene
right after hearing a shot fired, she saw Gomez "face down in the
street. At first he was still. Then he groaned and rolled over on
his back.  There was a lot of blood and a knife. I though he had
been stabbed."

She testified that Gomez had one hand over his head and a hand-
cuff on the other hand. In the interview, she said she did not
tell those in the crowd what she had seen because she did not
know whether Gomez was handcuffed when shot and then uncuffed.

On Wednesday, Officer Irwin Harris testified that he had been
called to 17th and Lamont streets NW to help two officers make
three arrests on charges of drinking in public. He said Gomez
tried to walk away from him and then swung at him when he tried
to handcuff him.

He said Gomez got away from him during a struggle and ran into
Lamont Street with a handcuff on one wrist.

Seikaly told the jury in his opening statement that Gomez's hands
were cuffed together after he had been shot and while he was
awaiting medical care.<02:26 11-06C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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