A San Diego police officer explained Friday in court why she ignored an order, and put her life at risk, to try and save a fellow officer.
Marisela Cooper recalled the fatal shooting of Officer Christopher Wilson, which happened in the Bay Terraces neighborhood in October 2010.
"I really didn't want to look at what it was. I kept staring straight ahead into the wall. I eventually turned, and I saw it was Officer Wilson on the ground,” Cooper testified.
San Diego Police were called to an apartment, to help with a probation sweep when two suspects unleashed a barrage of gunfire, from a bedroom. A bullet hit Wilson, who fell to the floor.
A Sergeant ordered the other officers to leave the scene, and called for SWAT backup, but Officer Cooper went back inside, to rescue her colleague.
Cooper, standing at 5 feet tall and weighing 120 pounds, tried to rescue Wilson but lost her grip on the 6-foot tall, 200-pound officer.
“And Sgt. Mitchell came in next to me and told me to take his (Wilson’s) hand. I took his right hand and Sgt. Mitchell took his left hand and we pulled him out of the apartment,” she said.
The view from the police helicopter, ABLE, was shown in court, shedding light on a chaotic scene below that night.
The two suspects who killed Wilson then killed themselves. The third suspect, Alex Charfauros, is now charged with murder.
Charfaurous did not fire a shot that night, and had left the apartment before the shoot-out. But prosecutors say he's responsible for Wilson's death, because he lied to police about the danger inside.
His lawyer denies those allegations, and says law enforcement mishandled the situation.
