Pubdate: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 Source: Newsday (NY) Copyright: 2002 Newsday Inc. Contact: http://www.newsday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/308 Author: Samuel Bruchey Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids) COPS' ACCOUNT DISPUTED AGAIN A second witness in the fatal shooting of Jose Colon -- who Suffolk police have said was accidentally killed by an officer during a drug raid in Bellport April 19 -- has come forward to dispute the police's version of events. Rahmel Pressley, 18, who lives directly across the street from the suspected drug house on Doane Avenue, said he was walking home from a friend's house about 10:30 p.m. when he saw the patrol cars pull up and the helicopter hover overhead. A detective pushed him into a car and demanded to know who he was and what he was doing, Pressley said on Friday. When he told the detective that he was trying to get home, the detective escorted him up the block. That's when Pressley, who said he was standing about 30 yards away, looked diagonally across the street and saw officers standing, knees bent, in formation outside the tumble-down blue house. Looking again, Pressley said he saw Colon emerge from the front door. He appeared to be heading down the three steps when the shots were fired. Officers "were standing there, crouched," Pressley said. Colon's girlfriend, Lydia Sierra, 17, of Patchogue, told Newsday on Thursday that officers were already frozen in position before Colon or Aaron Hatcher -- who police said stepped out first -- exited the house. Sierra said she couldn't hear officers yelling at the two to get down and only heard the helicopter and the crackle of gunfire. That, police contend, counters the signed statement she gave officers. In that statement, police said, Sierra wrote that she heard the officers telling the men to get down on the ground. Police declined to comment on Pressley's account. Homicide Commander Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick and Chief of Department Philip Robilotto previously have said the shooting resulted from a mishap during the initial charge toward the house. Police stand by their account of what happened that night: As four Emergency Services officers rushed single-file across the front lawn, one tripped over a tree root, fell forward and pushed into the lead officer, whose submachine gun discharged three times, striking Colon once in the side of the head. That lead officer, Tony Gonzalez, barely grazed the trigger of his weapon, police have said, and he later told investigators he didn't even remember taking his finger off the protective trigger rail. Gonzalez has been placed on desk duty pending an investigation of the shooting and has been distraught over Colon's death, Fitzpatrick has said. But, about 50 friends and relatives of Colon, who gathered on Friday at noon to protest the shooting outside Suffolk's Fifth Precinct in Patchogue, said they don't believe police have been honest about what happened. "I want justice for my son because he was murdered in cold blood," Colon's father, Juan Colon, said, calling for a special independent investigator. "We can't have cops investigating cops," he said. Colon also said Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota is too close to the police department to conduct an impartial investigation. During the hour-long demonstration, two officers sat and watched in a patrol car nearby. Colon's father said he doesn't distrust all police officers and understands the important role they must play in communities such as Bellport. But, added the Rev. Allen Ramirez of Brookville Reformed Church, who took part in the protest, many in Bellport believe they are treated like criminals simply because of where they live. "We need for police to communicate why they police our communities the way they do for us to trust them," Ramirez said. "Assigning a special investigator in this case would help develop that trust." Added Colon's older sister, Ana: "This can't keep happening. This was an innocent kid. They took away his life in the blink of an eye." - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager