Michael Hongpathoum v. State

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    1 1 REPORTER'S RECORD VOLUME 2 OF 3 VOLUMES 2 TRIAL COURT CAUSE NOS. 1321493, 1321487, & 1321486 COA NOS. 02-18-00061-CR, 02-18-00062-CR, 3 02-18-00063-CR FILED IN 2nd COURT OF APPEALS 4 FORT WORTH, TEXAS 5/24/2018 6:40:43 AM 5 THE STATE OF TEXAS ) IN THE DISTRICT DEBRA COURTSPISAK ) Clerk 6 vs. ) TARRANT COUNTY, TEXAS ) 7 MICHAEL HONGPATHOUM ) 371ST JUDICIAL DISTRICT 8 9 10 _____________________________________________ 11 MOTION TO ADJUDICATE _____________________________________________ 12 13 14 15 16 On the 1st day of February, 2018, the following 17 proceedings came on to be held in the above-titled 18 and numbered cause before the Honorable 19 Mollee Westfall, Judge Presiding, held in Fort 20 Worth, Tarrant County, Texas. 21 Proceedings reported by computerized stenotype 22 machine. 23 24 25 Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 2 1 A P P E A R A N C E S 2 3 MS. ALLYSON KUCERA SBOT NO. 24081858 4 MS. HANNAH BELL SBOT NO. 24068993 5 TARRANT COUNTY CRIMINAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY 401 W. Belknap 6 Fort Worth, Texas 76196 Telephone: (817) 814-1400 7 COUNSEL FOR THE STATE 8 9 MR. BLAKE BURNS 10 SBOT NO. 24066989 ATTORNEY AT LAW 11 115 N. Henderson St. Telephone: (817) 870-1544 12 COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 3 1 CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX VOLUME 2 OF 3 VOLUMES 2 MOTION TO ADJUDICATE 3 4 FEBRUARY 1, 2018 PAGE VOL. 5 Caption................................. 1 2 6 Appearances............................. 2 2 7 Proceedings............................. 5 2 8 Motion to Adjudicate.................... 5 2 9 Pleas of True........................... 9 2 10 Motion to Suppress...................... 5 2 11 State's Witnesses Direct Cross VD Vol. Jason Macha 12 42 38 2 12 Bradley Cantu 49 -- -- 2 Steven Graves 64 75 -- 2 13 Robert SanFilippo 76 87 -- 2 Mark Rath 90 -- -- 2 14 Brian Lukens 98 106 -- 2 15 State Rests.............................. 107 2 16 Motion to Suppress Denied............... 108 2 17 Both sides Close........................ 108 2 18 Closing Argument by Ms. Kucera.......... 109 2 19 Court's Ruling.......................... 109 2 20 Punishment Phase........................ 110 2 21 State Resubmits Adjudication Evidence... 110 2 22 State Rests............................. 110 2 23 Defense's Witness Direct Cross Vol. Susan Thorbrue 111 -- 2 24 Defense Rests........................... 114 2 25 Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 4 1 CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX (CONTINUED) 2 Both sides Close........................ 114 2 3 Closing Argument By Mr. Burns........... 114 2 4 Closing Argument by Ms. Kucera.......... 115 2 5 Court's Ruling.......................... 116 2 6 Proceedings Concluded................... 118 2 7 Court Reporter's Certificate............ 119 2 8 ---------------------------------------------------- 9 ALPHABETICAL WITNESS INDEX 10 State's Witnesses Direct Cross VD Vol. 11 Bradley Cantu 49 -- -- 2 Steven Graves 64 75 -- 2 12 Brian Lukens 98 106 -- 2 Jason Macha 12 42 38 2 13 Mark Rath 90 -- -- 2 Robert San Filippo 76 87 -- 2 14 15 Defense Witness Direct Cross VD Vol. Susan Thorbrue 111 -- -- 2 16 ---------------------------------------------------- 17 EXHIBITS INDEX 18 STATE'S DESCRIPTION OFFD ADMT VOL. NO. 19 SX-1 Evading Arrest Map 20 21 2 20 SX-2 BODY CAM DVD 38,61 39,61 2 73 73 2 21 SX-3 BODY/DASH CAM DVD 83 83 2 22 SX-4 BODY CAM DVD 94 95 2 23 SX-5 DASH CAM DVD 104 105 2 24 25 Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 5 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 (Thursday, February 1, 2018; 3 9:47 a.m.) 4 (Open court, defendant present, 5 no jury) 6 THE COURT: On the record. Court 7 calls Cause Numbers 1321493, 1321487, 1321486. All 8 styled the State of Texas versus Michael 9 Hongpathoum. Is that you, sir? 10 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, ma'am. 11 THE COURT: And we're here today on 12 the State's first amended petition to proceed to 13 adjudication in each of these three cases. 14 What says the State? 15 MS. KUCERA: State's ready, 16 Your Honor. 17 THE COURT: What says the Defense? 18 MR. BURNS: Defense is ready, 19 Your Honor. We do have a couple of preliminary 20 matters before we start calling witnesses. 21 THE COURT: Okay. Go ahead. 22 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, on the 23 petition, Defense would object to paragraph two and 24 paragraph five for the same reason, in that it 25 alleges the defendant committed a new offense while Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 6 1 on probation and the language set out in those 2 paragraphs is insufficient to allege an offense 3 committed in the State of Texas. 4 THE COURT: In what respect? 5 MR. BURNS: It fails to allege that 6 the defendant knew that the officer was trying to 7 detain him, and I believe the case law does require 8 that. 9 THE COURT: What says the State? 10 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, this -- it's 11 about notice. We'll be happy to prove that as an 12 element. The petition alleges that he was evading 13 in a vehicle, and that he was a peace officer 14 attempting to lawfully arrest or detain the 15 defendant. And I believe 19 adequate notice. I 16 don't think that 19 specifically -- I think it's 17 case law, but not specifically an element to have to 18 allege in a petition. 19 THE COURT: Response? 20 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, the petition 21 alleges he committed a new offense against the State 22 of Texas and it fails to allege that. 23 THE COURT: I think 19 sufficient 24 notice. I'm going to overrule your objection. 25 MR. BURNS: I guess, just -- so I can Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 7 1 it put on the record. 2 THE COURT: It's on the record. 3 MR. BURNS: If I could put my case 4 law in. 5 THE COURT: Okay. Go ahead. 6 MR. BURNS: V. Jackson versus State, 7 718 S.W. 2d 724, Texas Court of CCA. 8 THE COURT: All right. 9 Mr. Hongpathoum, the Court's file in 10 these three cases reflects the State's first amended 11 petition to proceed to adjudication, which alleges 12 certain violations of the terms and conditions of 13 your probation. Have you had a chance to go over 14 the allegations contained in these petitions with 15 your attorney? 16 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, I was going 17 to make the Court aware the State plans to waive -- 18 do you want me to make you aware of it now? 19 THE COURT: Yes. 20 MS. KUCERA: The State plans to waive 21 paragraph one, paragraph four, paragraph six, and 22 paragraph eight, and proceed on paragraphs two, 23 three, five, and seven. 24 THE COURT: Mr. Hongpathoum, have you 25 had a chance to go over the allegations contained in Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 8 1 these petitions with your attorney? 2 THE DEFENDANT: I'm looking over them 3 right now. 4 THE COURT: Have you all been over 5 them before this moment? 6 MR. BURNS: Me or him? Either one? 7 THE COURT: Yes. 8 MR. BURNS: Okay. Your Honor, we've 9 been over the allegations. This is the first time 10 he's probably seen it in print. 11 THE COURT: Okay. 12 MR. BURNS: But we've gone over 13 what's alleged. 14 THE COURT: Mr. Hongpathoum, if you 15 would rise, please, sir? This petition alleges that 16 you appeared in this court on these three cases on 17 August 7th, 2013, and pled guilty to the offenses of 18 theft of a firearm; delivery of controlled substance 19 of one gram or more but less than four grams, 20 namely, methamphetamine; and forgery by possession 21 of a forged writing, to wit, money; and were at that 22 time placed on deferred adjudication/probation in 23 each of these cases -- or seven years in the forgery 24 and delivery, and a five-year deferred 25 adjudication/probation in the theft of a firearm. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 9 1 Is that true or not true? 2 THE DEFENDANT: True. 3 THE COURT: Paragraph two of each of 4 these petitions alleges that you were ordered to 5 commit no offense against the laws of this state or 6 any other state of the United States, and that in 7 violation of this condition you, on or about the 8 22nd day of September, 2017, in the County of 9 Tarrant and the State of Texas did then and there 10 intentionally flee using a vehicle from J. Macha 11 knowing J. Macha was a peace officer who was 12 attempting to lawfully arrest or detain you. 13 Do you understand what paragraph two 14 alleges against you? 15 THE DEFENDANT: Yes. 16 THE COURT: To that allegation you 17 may plead true or not true. What is your plea? 18 THE DEFENDANT: Not true. 19 THE COURT: I couldn't hear what you 20 said. 21 THE DEFENDANT: Not true. 22 THE COURT: Paragraph three alleges 23 that you were to commit no offense against the laws 24 of this state or any other state of the United 25 States, and that in violation of this condition you, Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 10 1 on or about the 22nd day of September, 2017, in the 2 County of Tarrant and State of Texas, did 3 intentionally or knowingly carry, on or about your 4 person, a handgun, and you were in a motor vehicle 5 or watercraft owned by you or under your control, 6 and you were engaged in criminal activity other than 7 a Class C misdemeanor that was a violation of the 8 law or ordinance regulating traffic for boating. Do 9 you understand what paragraph three alleges against 10 you? Do you understand what paragraph three 11 alleges? 12 THE DEFENDANT: Yes. 13 THE COURT: To that allegation you 14 may plead true or not true. What is your plea? 15 THE DEFENDANT: Not true. 16 THE COURT: Paragraph five alleges 17 you were ordered to commit no offense against the 18 laws of this state or any other state of the United 19 States, and that in violation of this condition you, 20 on or about the 11th day of December, 2017, in the 21 County of Tarrant in the State of Texas did then and 22 there intentionally flee using a vehicle from 23 R. San Filippo knowing R. San Filippo was a peace 24 officer who was attempting to lawfully arrest or 25 detain you. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 11 1 THE DEFENDANT: Yes. Yes, ma'am. 2 THE COURT: To that allegation you 3 may plead true or not true. What is your plea? 4 THE DEFENDANT: Not true. 5 THE COURT: Paragraph seven alleges 6 you were to commit no offense against the laws of 7 this state or any other state of the United States, 8 and that in violation of this condition you, on or 9 about the 11th day of December, 2017, in the County 10 of Tarrant and State of Texas did intentionally or 11 knowingly carry, on or about your person, a handgun, 12 and that you were in a motor vehicle or watercraft 13 owned by you or under your control and were engaged 14 in criminal activity other than a Class C 15 misdemeanor that was a violation of the law or 16 ordinance regulating traffic or boating. Do you 17 understand what paragraph seven alleges against you? 18 THE DEFENDANT: True -- I mean, yes. 19 THE COURT: To that allegation you 20 may plead true or not true. What is your plea? 21 THE DEFENDANT: Not true. 22 THE COURT: You may have a seat, sir. 23 State may proceed. 24 MS. KUCERA: Thank you, Your Honor. 25 At this time the State would call Officer Jason -- Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 1 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, we had a 2 Motion to Suppress on file. 3 THE COURT: Okay. We'll run that 4 with this. 5 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, at this time 6 the State would call Jason Macha. 7 THE COURT: Raise your right hand. 8 (Witness sworn) 9 THE WITNESS: I do. 10 JASON MACHA, 11 having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 12 DIRECT EXAMINATION 13 BY MS. KUCERA 14 Q Officer Macha, can you state and spell 15 your full name for the court reporter. 16 A Jason Macha, M-a-c-h-a. 17 Q All right. And, Officer Macha, how are 18 you currently employed? 19 A Through the City of Fort Worth. 20 Q And how long have you been with the City 21 of Fort Worth? 22 A About four years. 23 Q And in what capacity are you employed with 24 them right now? 25 A Police officer. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 1 Q And what unit are you assigned to? 2 A Central Division Patrol. 3 Q And were you in Central Division Patrol 4 when you -- on September 22nd, 2017? 5 A Yes, I was. 6 Q And, Officer, the Judge has heard multiple 7 police officers testify. Did you have to go through 8 the same type of training and experience that other 9 Fort Worth police officers have had to go through in 10 order to be employed with Fort Worth? 11 A Yes. 12 Q And did you successfully complete that 13 training? 14 A Yes, I did. 15 Q Were you trained in the procedures on, 16 particularly, how to conduct a high speed police 17 chase? 18 A Yes. 19 Q All right. So on September 22nd, 2017, 20 were you involved in a high speed police chase? 21 A Yes, I was. 22 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, at this time 23 I would object for the reasons stated earlier that 24 this would be outside the scope of what's alleged in 25 the petition. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 14 1 THE COURT: Overruled. 2 MR. BURNS: May I have a running 3 objection so that I don't have to keep getting up? 4 THE COURT: You may. 5 MS. KUCERA: Thank you, Your Honor. 6 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Officer Macha, on 7 September 22nd, 2017, where were you when this 8 initially started? 9 A I was on the corner of Sylvania and 10 Northeast 28th Street. 11 Q And what is -- what location or 12 establishment is on that corner? 13 A There's an active game room. 14 Q And were you sitting outside of that game 15 room, watching it? 16 A Yes, ma'am. 17 Q And why? 18 A Known illegal drug activity. 19 Q Is it common for you on patrol to sit 20 outside of one? 21 A Yes. 22 Q And so what did you observe when you were 23 sitting outside of this particular gaming 24 establishment? 25 A I observed a male outside on his cellphone Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 15 1 at the time, kind of acting very suspicious, kind of 2 paranoid, looking over at me and the other officer 3 that was there in our patrol cars acting very 4 nervous, kind of don't know what to do, flailing his 5 arms up in the air, kind of pacing back and forth, 6 you know, kind of acting erratic, very nervous. 7 Q And it caught your -- you noticed this 8 behavior at the time? 9 A Yes. 10 Q And you believed it to be suspicious? 11 A Yes. 12 Q And so what did -- what did you do next? 13 A We continued to observe the -- the 14 individual for approximately about five minutes or 15 so. 16 Q Okay. And what did this individual then 17 do? 18 A Eventually, got in his vehicle and 19 proceeded to leave the establishment. 20 Q And what happened when he left the 21 establishment? 22 A Proceeded to leave the establishment. He 23 didn't stop at a sidewalk there that's -- goes in 24 front of the business and proceeded eastbound on 25 Northeast 28th Street at a high rate of speed. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 16 1 Q And did you then follow the vehicle? 2 A I tried to catch up to him, but, by the 3 time I got out to Northeast 28th Street, he was 4 almost to -- making a turn onto Chandler West. 5 Q Okay. And so did you follow him after he 6 turned? 7 A Yes, I did. 8 Q And did you observe additional traffic 9 offenses? 10 A Yes, I did. 11 Q What did you observe? 12 A I observed -- again, when he turned 13 onto -- turned onto Hollis. And when I got behind 14 him on Hollis and he got on to Hollis and North 15 Riverside, he again didn't stop on Hollis and North 16 Riverside. 17 Q Was there a stop sign there? 18 A It was a stop sign or a traffic stoplight. 19 I can't remember which, exactly. 20 Q Did you observe him run that stop sign or 21 traffic light? 22 A Yes, ma'am. 23 Q Okay. And so did you continue with your 24 pursuit? 25 A That's when I initiated my overheads and Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 17 1 sirens. 2 Q Okay. And what happened when you 3 initiated your sirens and lights? 4 A He -- that's when he hit the gas and 5 proceeded at even a higher rate of speed. 6 Q Okay. Your vehicle that you're driving 7 in, what does it look like? 8 A It was a Ford Explorer, black and white, 9 had Fort Worth Police on it, red and blue lights, 10 white lights. 11 Q Is it very obvious that it's a 12 police-issued vehicle? 13 A Yes. 14 Q And it has red and blue lights and sirens 15 typically equipped on a patrol vehicle? 16 A Yes. 17 Q And you initiated those lights within the 18 sight of the defendant; is that correct? 19 A Yes. 20 Q And obviously aware that you are making a 21 traffic stop on this vehicle? 22 A Yes. 23 Q Any doubt in your mind that he should have 24 been aware of that? 25 A No. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 18 1 Q And he took off at a high rate of speed; 2 is that correct? 3 A Yes. 4 Q All right. So if you can, can you walk 5 the Judge through the process of this chase from 6 where it started -- you described you're on 7 Riverside at this point, and where you proceed to go 8 throughout the metroplex. 9 A Is it okay if I look at my report? 10 Q Yes. 11 A Okay. 12 Q Well, actually, Officer, let me ask you 13 this: Did this high speed chase continue for 14 multiple miles at this point? 15 A Yes. 16 Q How many miles in total do you remember 17 calculating? 18 A Approximately 90. 19 THE COURT: Nine, zero? 20 THE WITNESS: Nine, zero, yes. 21 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) And so, Officer Macha, as 22 you are going to walk the Judge through these 23 highways and roads that you took throughout this 24 police chase, do you think it would be helpful for 25 her if she were to be able to see it and follow Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 19 1 along with you as you're dictating which roads that 2 you took? 3 A Yes. 4 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, may I 5 approach the witness? 6 THE COURT: You may. 7 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Now, Officer, while you 8 were following the defendant for quite a while, were 9 there -- were you getting call-outs over the radio 10 of what else was going on and what happened after 11 you had to abandon your search -- or your chase? 12 A Yes. 13 Q And so I'm going to approach you with 14 what's been marked as State's Exhibit No. 1. Do you 15 recognize this? 16 A Yes, I do. 17 Q And based on the information that you 18 gathered from the radio call-outs during the entire 19 process of the evading, does this map fairly and 20 accurately depict the entire police chase as a 21 whole? 22 A Yes, it does. 23 Q And is this -- can you tell the Judge 24 essentially what this is? 25 A Yes. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 20 1 Q What is it? 2 A This is pretty much the starting and the 3 ending point of the pursuit. 4 Q And can you follow along on this map 5 the -- the pathway that you took when you were 6 following the defendant? 7 A Yes, I can. 8 Q And I'm going to ask you again, do you 9 think this would be helpful for the Judge in order 10 to see the locations that you traveled on this 11 evening? 12 A Yes. 13 MS. KUCERA: And, Your Honor, at this 14 time I'm going to tender to defense counsel State's 15 Exhibit No. 1, and then ask that it be admitted and 16 permission to publish. 17 (State's Exhibit 1 offered) 18 MR. BURNS: We just object for the 19 reasons stated earlier that it contains allegations 20 outside the petition. 21 THE COURT: What specific allegation 22 do you think it contains that's outside the 23 petition? 24 MR. BURNS: The evading. We object. 25 It is not sufficiently alleged in the petition. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 21 1 THE COURT: And remind me what is 2 your objection to the evading? 3 MR. BURNS: That the petition fails 4 to allege that he knew this was a police officer. 5 THE COURT: Well, it says knowing he 6 was a peace officer. 7 MR. BURNS: Correct, but it doesn't 8 say that he knew he was trying to lawfully arrest or 9 detain him. 10 THE COURT: Who was attempting to 11 lawfully arrest or detain him? 12 MR. BURNS: It says that he was 13 trying to, but it doesn't further allege that the 14 defendant knew that. 15 THE COURT: Oh. Okay. I mean, you 16 have a running objection, so... 17 MR. BURNS: Yes, Your Honor, that 18 would be my only objection to this. 19 THE COURT: All right. That's 20 overruled. State's 1 is admitted. 21 (State's Exhibit 1 admitted) 22 MS. KUCERA: Thank you, Your Honor. 23 May I have permission to publish it to the Court? 24 THE COURT: Yes. 25 MS. KUCERA: I've printed it on the Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 22 1 Maverick as well if you want to -- 2 THE COURT: Yes. 3 MS. KUCERA: -- view that. And I 4 will trace along with Officer Macha as he's 5 describing it. 6 THE COURT: Can you turn it slightly 7 this way? Is it possible? Okay. That's good. 8 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) All right. Officer 9 Macha, you described earlier -- and I'm going to 10 point -- all right. Officer Macha, you described 11 that you started at 2800 -- 12 THE COURT: That's it right there. 13 What you just flashed is green. 14 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) So, Officer, you 15 described that you started at Northeast 28th Street, 16 and you proceeded south on Riverside. And before I 17 cut you off, you were describing the next roadway 18 that this -- the vehicle that you were following 19 went -- can you -- before you do that, can you tell 20 the Judge what type of vehicle you were following? 21 A It was a Toyota FR-S. 22 Q Okay. What color was it? 23 A It was black. 24 Q And can you describe anything else 25 specific about the vehicle? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 23 1 A Not in particular, no. I mean, just two 2 door. 3 Q Okay. All right. And so you were driving 4 on Riverside, and what is the next roadway that the 5 vehicle enters? 6 A 121. 7 Q Okay. And 121 heading west? 8 A Heading west, he took 121 westbound to 9 I-35. 10 Q Okay. Northbound? 11 A Northbound to I-35 to 820, took 820 12 eastbound. We took that until it went to 820 13 southbound. 14 Q Okay. 15 A We then took 820 southbound to I-20. 16 THE COURT: Let me ask you. We're 17 tracing a really long route. What did you see? 18 Were you -- was the car in your sight the whole 19 time? 20 THE WITNESS: Yes, ma'am. 21 THE COURT: And how fast was it 22 going? 23 THE WITNESS: I topped out at 24 131 miles an hour. 25 THE COURT: Just to keep up with this Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 24 1 car? 2 THE WITNESS: Yes. 3 THE COURT: Did you ever -- you never 4 were able to gain on the car? 5 THE WITNESS: Every time we came up 6 to any kind of small turn or curve in the road, the 7 defendant would always slow down, and I could always 8 catch up, right up to it. Or any kind of car that 9 it would come up to, it would always slow down and I 10 could catch up to it. It never got more than -- the 11 most it got ahead of me was probably a quarter of a 12 mile, but, it was always in my sight. At times he 13 would black out, turn off all of his lights, but I 14 was still able to visually see it. 15 THE COURT: Did you have lights and 16 sirens on the whole time? 17 THE WITNESS: The whole time. 18 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Officer Macha, I think I 19 asked you this earlier, what time of night was this? 20 A It was approximately 1, 1:30 in the 21 morning. 22 Q Now, I know that it's late in the evening 23 or early in the morning. Were -- was there still 24 traffic that you were driving in and out of? 25 A Yes. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 25 1 Q Was this vehicle driving dangerously? 2 A Yes. 3 Q Was he putting all of the vehicles on the 4 road that night at risk? 5 A Yes. 6 Q At great risk, in fact? 7 A Yes. 8 Q And you yourself as well? 9 A Correct. 10 Q All right. So, Officer, you mentioned 11 that you were on 820 southbound, and then you head 12 east on I-20; is that correct? 13 A Correct. 14 Q And that's -- we're heading towards 15 Arlington? 16 A Yes. 17 Q All right. And then what happens after 18 you're eastbound on I-20? 19 A Hang on one second. Let me make sure I 20 get the correct route here. We then went northbound 21 on Highway 161. From there we went eastbound on 22 Highway 635. 23 Q All right. So, officer, I-20 to 24 northbound on 161 is -- I just -- I glanced, is 25 approximately 40 miles north, and then you go, you Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 26 1 said east on 635; is that correct? 2 A Correct. 3 Q And then you go north again on I-35 East? 4 A Yes. 5 Q And then what is the next roadway that you 6 take? 7 A That was -- at that point he swerved very 8 quickly on that Highway 161. 9 Q Okay. So he goes back onto 161, or the 10 President George Bush Turnpike? 11 A Yes. 12 Q When you say he swerved very quickly, were 13 you able to follow him at that point? 14 A No. That -- at that point -- at that 15 point he faked like he was going to go to the left, 16 and at this last minute he swerved over to the 17 right. I went over to go to the left, the initial 18 way he was going to go. I couldn't make it over to 19 the right. I called out immediately over to the 20 radio -- over the radio that he went to the right 21 and there was another vehicle, K-9 unit, behind me 22 and he was able to go the same way that he went. 23 Q How many other officers were involved? 24 A Immediately behind me there was a Fort 25 Worth K-9 unit, and there was a -- I do believe it Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 27 1 was Irving K-9 Tahoe unit. 2 THE COURT: Irving? 3 THE WITNESS: Yes. 4 THE COURT: Any particular reason why 5 they were involved? 6 THE WITNESS: Because we were going 7 through their jurisdiction. It was either Irving or 8 Grand Prairie, one of the two. 9 THE COURT: All right. 10 THE WITNESS: But we had gone through 11 so many -- I think seven different counties -- or 12 cities. 13 THE COURT: So people would come in 14 and then dropped out? 15 THE WITNESS: Yes. 16 THE COURT: When their city limits 17 hit? 18 THE WITNESS: Yes. 19 THE COURT: Okay. 20 THE WITNESS: Yeah, actually, not 21 Irving. I think it was Grand Prairie K-9 that 22 stayed with us. So... 23 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) So at this point you -- 24 let me back up. You -- he takes -- we're back up 25 here at the George Bush Turnpike. He's able to -- Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 28 1 you're coming from I-35. You are not able to exit 2 in time, but he is. How close did you come to 3 hitting the guardrail on that exit? 4 A About that far. 5 Q All right. So how far is that? 6 A Probably about a foot doing about 120. 7 Q All right. So, Officer Macha, at that 8 point another officer takes over as the lead 9 vehicle, in other words, in the chase; is that 10 correct? 11 A Correct. 12 Q And you reverse -- just tell the Judge 13 what happens. 14 A So the Fort Worth K-9 passed me. The 15 Grand Prairie K-9 passed me. I back up about 16 50 feet, try to get back into the pursuit. That's 17 when he goes back up to -- I think it was, Josey is 18 where they make a U-turn. 19 Q So the U-turn at Josey Lane, and he 20 gets -- enters back onto 161 -- 21 A 161, yeah. 22 Q -- George Bush Turnpike. Okay. 23 A Yeah. And that was the closest I made it 24 back to him. I ended up -- at one point the Grand 25 Prairie unit gets caught behind some traffic. I was Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 29 1 able to swerve around all that traffic and pass 2 them. That's when I ran out of gas, shortly 3 thereafter. 4 Q So, Officer, you're back on 161, the 5 George Bush Turnpike -- 6 A Correct. 7 Q -- heading here, and you run out of gas at 8 approximately -- 9 A Belt Line, I think it was. 10 Q -- Belt Line and 161? 11 A Yes. 12 Q Okay. So you're, again, kept up with 13 what's going on with the search? 14 A Yes, ma'am. I'm constantly listening to 15 the radio. The Grand Prairie officer, again, passes 16 me. That's when he gets on 183. 17 Q So he goes east -- I'm sorry, westbound on 18 183 -- 19 A Westbound on 183 up to Inter -- or 20 International Parkway, which goes right through the 21 middle of DFW airport, crashes through a gate at the 22 airport. 23 THE COURT: Who crashed through the 24 gate? 25 THE WITNESS: The defendant. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 30 1 THE COURT: Okay. 2 A K-9 officer was right behind him. The 3 gate closes. There was another officer there 4 waiting for the gate to open. At the north end of 5 the gate going westbound on 114, the K-9 officer ran 6 out of gas so he had to terminate the pursuit. 7 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) And so is it fair to say 8 at this point is when your officers have run out of 9 gas and your pursuit is terminated; is that correct? 10 A Correct. 11 Q Okay. So again, you're still listening on 12 the radio, and are you filling up your car with gas 13 at this point? 14 A At that point, there was actually a, like, 15 a Irving Sheriff's officer that came and gave me, 16 like, two gallons of gas, enough for me to make it 17 to the airport to get me gas. 18 Q Okay. And so what's going on, and are -- 19 I guess, can you tell the officer -- or, I'm sorry, 20 tell the Judge what else is going on at this time. 21 You've lost the pursuit. You haven't found him. 22 What are the other officers doing? 23 A There was an off-duty officer who has 24 access to the LPR system, which is our license plate 25 reader system, and he was reading -- he was going Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 31 1 through the database with the -- running the license 2 plate and seeing where that license plate had been. 3 MR. BURNS: Objection. Denial to 4 confrontation as to what the other officer was doing 5 and seeing. 6 MS. KUCERA: 19 just talking -- it's 7 his state of mind or his understanding of what's 8 going on. 9 THE COURT: Overruled as to that. 10 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) You can continue. 11 A The officer is running the license plate 12 in the database, seeing where that license plate had 13 been, if it had ever been hit in the city in the LPR 14 system. 15 THE COURT: Where did you get the 16 license plate information? Where did it come from? 17 THE WITNESS: It comes from tow 18 trucks. 19 THE COURT: No, no. I sort of 20 understand that. But who got the license plate off 21 of the car? 22 THE WITNESS: I got it. 23 THE COURT: And at what point? 24 THE WITNESS: I got it off of the car 25 when I initially got behind it. So we had that Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 32 1 initially from when I first got behind the vehicle. 2 THE COURT: All right. 3 A So, at that time, when the pursuit was 4 initially over, when he was running, when he was 5 running license plate in the database, it was 6 hitting up on the east side of Fort Worth around the 7 Meadowbrook area. Within about twelve minutes of 8 time, officers called out that they spotted the 9 vehicle at 820 and Meadowbrook. So from the north 10 side of the airport, from 114 in the north side of 11 the airport down there at the blue section, there 12 (indicating) it was located at 12 minutes later. So 13 even though the pursuit was over, he was still 14 traveling at a high rate of speed, approximately. 15 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) And your best guess is 16 he's getting from north of the airport to I-30 and 17 I-20 in twelve minutes? 18 A Yes. 19 Q Traffic traveling incredibly quickly from 20 your understanding? 21 A Correct. 22 Q And so I know this wasn't -- you weren't 23 involved in this particular car, but you were made 24 aware via the radio that they relocated the 25 defendant and were continuing to follow that same Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 33 1 vehicle? 2 A Correct. 3 Q Is that correct? 4 A Yes. 5 Q Okay. And so they -- your 6 understanding is -- or can you tell the Judge of 7 what your understanding is of how this pursuit ends? 8 A Minor thing is they followed the vehicle 9 here for -- this little pursuit here was 10 approximately for about another ten to twelve more 11 miles into some residential areas here. They 12 backtracked a little bit being a little couple of 13 U-turns. It finally ended up where it went down 14 East 1st Avenue where he finally ran out of gas at 15 the 4200 block of East 1st Avenue. He then got out 16 of the vehicle and started running on foot in a 17 northwesterly direction. 18 THE COURT: How do you know it was 19 the same car? 20 THE WITNESS: It matched the 21 vehicle -- the vehicle description matched -- the 22 vehicle description matched what the officers seen. 23 And one of the officers knew -- saw the plate when 24 they saw it. 25 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) And so, Officer, after Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 34 1 the pursuit eventually terminates with the defendant 2 running out of gas and you said he gets out of his 3 vehicle and runs on foot, is he eventually 4 apprehended? 5 A Yes, he is. 6 Q And so did you eventually arrive at that 7 scene? 8 A About ten to fifteen minutes or so after. 9 Q And did you observe the car on that scene? 10 A Yes. 11 Q Was that the exact same car that you had 12 been pursuing for several miles? 13 A Yes. 14 Q Any doubt in your mind it was the same 15 vehicle? 16 A No doubt. 17 Q Do you -- you testified earlier that you 18 observed the driver outside pacing around the gaming 19 (sic), and you knew before he got in his vehicle? 20 A Yes. 21 Q Do you recognize that person in the 22 courtroom today? 23 A Yes, I do. 24 Q And do you -- could you point out an 25 article of clothing that he is wearing? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 35 1 A He is wearing a black shirt. 2 Q Does he have glasses on, or not? 3 A Glasses, yes. 4 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, may the 5 record reflect this witness has correctly identified 6 the defendant. 7 THE COURT: The record will so 8 reflect. 9 MS. KUCERA: Thank you, Your Honor. 10 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Officer Macha, after you 11 arrived on scene, did you partake in any search or 12 anything of the vehicle? 13 A Yes, I searched the vehicle. 14 Q And what did you locate inside the 15 vehicle? 16 A I located a gun when I ran it on through 17 the PICA system, that it was stolen out of Midland, 18 Texas. 19 Q And where was the gun located in the 20 vehicle, if you remember? 21 A It was located in a black bag they got 22 inside an Xbox bag. 23 Q Inside the vehicle? 24 A Yes. 25 Q And can you tell the Court what the basis Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 36 1 for your search of the vehicle was? 2 A It was incident to arrest. 3 Q And had this vehicle been involved in an 4 offense, and, in fact, a high speed pursuit 5 throughout almost the entire metroplex? 6 A Yes, it was. 7 Q Is it fair to say that this defendant has 8 been engaged in criminal activity while in 9 possession of this weapon? 10 A Yes. 11 Q Is it a Toyota -- I think you described it 12 as -- what kind of vehicle was it, do you remember? 13 A Toyota, FR-S. 14 Q Is that a motor vehicle? 15 A Yes. 16 Q Now, Officer Macha, the patrol vehicle 17 that you were operating at the time, was it equipped 18 with a dash camera? 19 A Yes. 20 Q Was that dash camera capable of recording 21 the events accurately that evening? 22 A Yes, it was. 23 Q Have you had a chance to review your dash 24 camera prior to coming to testify today? 25 A Yes, I have. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 37 1 Q And did you review that in my office prior 2 to your testimony? 3 A Yes, I did. 4 Q And when you reviewed it, did that dash 5 camera fairly and accurately depict the events as 6 they happened that night? 7 A Yes. 8 Q Does that include the speed of the 9 vehicle, the other vehicles on the road, the 10 dangerous driving patterns and behaviors? 11 A Yes. 12 Q Were there any alterations or deletions or 13 anything to that dash camera? 14 A No. 15 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, may I 16 approach the witness? 17 THE COURT: You may. 18 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) I'm going to hand you 19 what's been marked as State's Exhibit No. 2. Do you 20 recognize that? 21 A Yes, I do. 22 Q And do you recognize your initials on that 23 DVD? 24 A Yes, I do. 25 Q And is that -- does that DVD contain your Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 38 1 dash camera that we just described? 2 A Yes. 3 Q And I'm going to ask you to make sure that 4 dash camera doesn't contain any additions or 5 deletions and is a fair and accurate depiction of 6 the events that took place that night? 7 A Yes, it is. 8 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, I'm going to 9 hand State's Exhibit 2 to defense attorney and ask 10 that it be admitted. Your Honor, I will say this: 11 The DVD does contain multiple dash cameras, and I'm 12 only conditionally admitting Officer Macha's dash 13 cam. The other officers will be here to testify to 14 theirs as well. 15 (State's Exhibit 2 offered) 16 MR. BURNS: Can I have a couple of 17 quick questions on voir dire, Your Honor? 18 THE COURT: Yes. 19 VOIR DIRE EXAMINATION 20 BY MR. BURNS: 21 Q Officer Macha, you reviewed this tape -- 22 the video she intends to play right now? 23 A Yes. 24 Q Is it just the dash cam? In other words, 25 is the search also on there or is it just on the Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 39 1 car? 2 A We're just talking about the dash cam, 3 correct? 4 MR. BURNS: And, Your Honor, I just 5 object for the same reason as the last exhibit, that 6 it contains allegations outside the petition. 7 THE COURT: Overruled. State's 2 is 8 admitted. 9 (State's Exhibit 2 admitted) 10 MS. KUCERA: Thank you, Your Honor. 11 Permission to publish to the Court? 12 THE COURT: Granted. 13 (State's Exhibit 2 published in 14 open court) 15 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Now, Officer Macha, is 16 this you leaving the gaming facility? 17 A Yes. 18 Q Can you see the defendant's vehicle? 19 A That's what just turned right now. 20 Q So, Officer, I know 19 difficult for you 21 to see on the video, but you can see the glimpses of 22 the taillights ahead of you. Were you able to 23 visually -- maintain a visual on this vehicle like 24 you testified to earlier? 25 A Yes. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 40 1 Q Now, Officer, you turned your lights on 2 and he's approximately less than a hundred yards in 3 front of you at that point? 4 A Yes. 5 Q And does he appear to be getting closer to 6 you or farther away? 7 A Further away. 8 Q Officer, you testified -- you see the 9 vehicle take quite a jump there. What happened when 10 your vehicle went over that bump? 11 A My computer come out of its stand. It was 12 when we went over Belknap. 13 Q So now you're entering 121; is that 14 correct? 15 A Yes. 16 Q And are you going north on I-35 on the 17 entrance ramp? 18 A Correct. 19 Q You mentioned earlier to the Judge that 20 when you were driving on the streets and he had to 21 take curves is when you were able to catch up with 22 him. After this, does this defendant stay mostly on 23 freeways at this point? 24 A Yes. 25 Q Why do you think that is? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 41 1 A Trying to get away. 2 Q Now, Officer Macha, on this video can you 3 see that there's other traffic on the road? 4 A Yes. 5 Q And in your review of the dash camera, are 6 there times when you can observe the defendant 7 weaving in and out of traffic? 8 A Yes. 9 Q In a dangerous manner? 10 A Yes. 11 Q Now, Officer Macha, the video is -- we're 12 four minutes and 22 seconds into the video. And 13 this video lasts for 47 minutes and 15 seconds. Do 14 you remember approximately what time you run out of 15 gas? 16 A About -- probably about 44 minutes into 17 it. 18 Q So, in other words, this entire pursuit 19 throughout -- I mean, you said 90 miles earlier is 20 45 minutes long? 21 A Correct. I go for about 70 miles before I 22 run out of gas and then K-9 goes for about ten miles 23 before he runs out and then ten miles for about 24 those other units. 25 Q All right. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 42 1 MS. KUCERA: I'm pausing the video at 2 5:19. Your Honor, should you wish to watch the 3 entire video by all means, but -- Your Honor, at 4 this time I pass the witness. 5 MR. BURNS: Thank you, Your Honor. 6 May I approach the video? 7 THE COURT: You may. 8 CROSS-EXAMINATION 9 BY MR. BURNS: 10 Q Officer, I don't know if you can see this, 11 but is that the game room you were referencing -- 12 A Yes. 13 Q -- where you spotted him? Now, where 14 would the sidewalk be that he failed to stop at? 15 Would it be this way or that way (indicating)? 16 A The game room is on the other side of the 17 street. 18 Q So the game room is over here 19 (indicating)? 20 A No, right where the bright lights are. 21 Q Right here? 22 A Correct. 23 Q Okay. So the sidewalk would be here or 24 here? 25 A Sidewalk is going to be over there on the Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 43 1 other side of the street. 2 THE COURT: So you're across the 3 street? 4 THE WITNESS: I'm across the street 5 from the game room. 6 THE COURT: Can you see the sidewalk 7 that you're talking about in this video? 8 THE WITNESS: It's not that clear on 9 the video. 10 Q (BY MR. BURNS) We don't see him leaving. 11 So this would be a better view of it, correct? 12 A Correct. So it's going to -- 13 THE COURT: I'm not sure -- the red 14 won't show. 15 THE WITNESS: May I approach the TV? 16 THE COURT: Yes, you may. And the 17 green one is apparently out of battery. 18 MS. BELL: It doesn't show up either 19 very well, Judge. 20 A The sidewalk runs right up along here 21 (indicating). So it goes that way, and then 22 continues on up along over here (indicating). 23 Q (BY MR. BURNS) I think I asked this, but 24 we don't see him exiting on the video, correct? 25 A Correct. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 44 1 THE COURT: Had he already exited 2 then by the time you got to this point? 3 THE WITNESS: Yes. 4 Q (BY MR. BURNS) And would it be fair to 5 say it's hard to see there's a sidewalk there on the 6 video at least? 7 A Yes. 8 THE COURT: Were you trying to detain 9 him at this point or was it later or did you turn 10 your lights on right there? 11 THE WITNESS: No. Because when I got 12 to the street by this point, he was already so far 13 down Northeast 28th Street, he probably wasn't even 14 knowing I was coming after him. So I was trying to 15 get up closer to him so that he would know I was 16 trying to pull him over. 17 THE COURT: Did you have your lights 18 on at that point? 19 THE WITNESS: Not right now, no, 20 because like I said, he was so far ahead of me, I 21 wanted to make sure that he knew that I was trying 22 to pull him over because if I turned them on now, 23 you know, he might not know that I was trying to 24 pull him over. 25 Q But -- so you're saying -- just so I Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 45 1 understand, at this point you are trying to pull him 2 over, you're just not trying to put your lights on 3 because you don't think he would see that far away; 4 is that fair to say? 5 A He might not know that I'm trying to pull 6 him over. 7 Q Right. But you were -- that was your goal 8 going toward him, was to pull him over at this 9 point, correct? 10 A Correct. 11 Q And this may not be a real fair question, 12 but if you need to review the videos, I know there 13 was a bunch, so by all means, let me know if you 14 need to review it. But do you recall in the search 15 video, you were describing to another officer 16 basically this part of the chase and you mentioned 17 you saw him at the game room, and then all of a 18 sudden he was gone, you recall saying that? 19 A I don't recall. 20 Q And you said, So I'm going to go after 21 that black car? I mean, I would kind of match what 22 you were saying here, that right now it's your 23 intention to pull him over, correct? 24 A Correct. 25 Q Now, you also were the -- were you the Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 46 1 only officer that searched the vehicle in this case? 2 A No. There was another officer there that 3 helped searched. 4 Q Were you the primary searching officer? 5 A There was two of us searching. 6 Q Did you guys have a warrant to search the 7 vehicle? 8 A No, we did not. 9 Q Now, the gun in this case was found in an 10 Xbox bag; is that correct? 11 A Yes. 12 Q And you mentioned that was incident to 13 arrest, correct? 14 A Correct. 15 Q Now, the relation to the Xbox bag, where 16 was Mr. Hongpathoum when he was arrested? 17 A He was in the back of a patrol car. 18 Q Well, where was the actual arrest made in 19 comparison to the Xbox bag? Was it a hundred yards? 20 Two hundred yards? 21 A A hundred to two hundred yards away. 22 Q And he was handcuffed immediately, 23 correct? 24 A Correct. 25 Q There was no way he had access to that Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 47 1 bag, correct, at the time he was taken down and 2 arrested? 3 A Correct. 4 Q Okay. Now, you mentioned earlier as well 5 that every time Mr. Hongpathoum got near traffic he 6 slowed down; is that correct? 7 A Uh-huh. 8 Q And if there was a particularly sharp 9 curve, he slowed down as well; is that correct? 10 A Correct. 11 Q Was he doing anything to use his car 12 offensively, such as sideswiping somebody or ramming 13 them off the road? 14 A No, he didn't hit nobody. 15 Q And he didn't even particularly hit that 16 close, did he? 17 A No. He got close to people, but he didn't 18 hit anybody. 19 Q Well, he wasn't trying to hit anybody, 20 correct, as far as you could tell? 21 A He didn't hit anybody. Whether he was 22 trying to hit anybody or not, he didn't hit anybody. 23 Q We're just going to go back to my original 24 question, I guess, which nothing that you saw lead 25 you to believe that he was using the car offensively Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 48 1 in this chase? 2 A He didn't hit anybody. 3 Q He didn't swerve at anybody that 4 threatened to hit them? 5 A You could have said he could have swerved 6 at people, yes. 7 Q You recall on the video where he swerved 8 at a car, not around a car, but -- 9 A He got really close to some cars. 10 Q He got really close or he swerved at that 11 offensively? I'm just asking. I'm not trying to 12 put words in your mouth. 13 A Could have swerved at him, could have 14 swerved around them. 15 Q Could have? 16 A When you're doing 130 miles an hour. 17 Q And that's what I'm getting at. If -- 18 when you mentioned he's driving dangerously, you're 19 talking about the speed, right? 20 A Yeah. 21 Q Primarily the speed? 22 A Correct. 23 MR. BURNS: May I have one moment, 24 Your Honor? 25 THE COURT: You may. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 49 1 MR. BURNS: I pass the witness, 2 Your Honor. 3 MS. KUCERA: No further questions for 4 this witness, Your Honor. May he be excused? 5 MR. BURNS: Subject to recall, 6 Your Honor. 7 THE COURT: You may step down and 8 you're excused. You're subject to recall, which 9 means you need to be reachable. 10 THE WITNESS: Okay. 11 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, at this time 12 the state would call Officer Bradley Cantu. 13 THE COURT: Raise your right hand. 14 (Witness sworn) 15 THE WITNESS: I do. 16 THE COURT: Have a seat, sir. 17 BRADLEY CANTU, 18 having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 19 DIRECT EXAMINATION 20 BY MS. KUCERA: 21 Q Detective, can you state and spell your 22 name for the court reporter. 23 A Yes, 19 Detective Bradley Cantu. 24 B-r-a-d-l-e-y, C-a-n-t-u. 25 Q Now, Detective, can you tell the Judge how Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 50 1 you're employed. 2 A I'm a detective with the Fort Worth Police 3 Department. 4 Q And how long have you been with the Fort 5 Worth Police Department? 6 A It'll be nine years this month. 7 Q And when were you promoted to detective? 8 A The last week of November. 9 Q And what capacity were you working prior 10 to being a detective? 11 A As a patrol officer. 12 Q And were you a patrol officer in 13 September -- on September 22nd, 2017? 14 A Yes, I was. 15 Q Now, the Judge has heard multiple police 16 officers testify. Did you have to go through the 17 requisite training and experience in order to become 18 a Fort Worth Police Officer? 19 A Yes, I did. 20 Q Did that include the protocol and 21 procedure on the high speed chase? 22 A Yes. 23 Q Were you involved in a high speed chase on 24 September 22nd? 25 A Yes. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 51 1 Q Can you tell the Judge sort of how you 2 became involved in that? 3 A So the pursuit, it started on the other 4 side of town, and it went out of Fort Worth. So 5 since we are -- 6 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, may I renew 7 my objection to being outside of the scope of the 8 petition? 9 THE COURT: Okay. You have a running 10 objection. 11 MR. BURNS: Thank you. 12 A Since it went outside of our city, since 13 we weren't initially involved in the pursuit, we're 14 not allowed to leave the city to try to engage the 15 pursuit, catch up to it. So I was working East 16 Division that night and officers had -- were -- had 17 pursued him outside of the city. When they were 18 coming back, I guess, Officer Macha, they had 19 reinitiated the pursuit and they were coming back 20 into Fort Worth. So I was at Brentwood Stair and 21 820 and Officer Graves had just left the QT that's 22 located there, and he had -- he saw the vehicle and 23 started pursuing the vehicle. So -- I was actually 24 training another officer at the time. And we got in 25 our vehicles and tried to catch up to Officer Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 52 1 Graves. And once we hit Meadowbrook going 2 westbound, we could see Officer Graves pretty far 3 length ahead of us in pursuit with his lights on. 4 And as we're trying to catch up, Officer Graves ends 5 up losing the vehicle momentarily. So we just 6 engage our lights, and we're now crossing over 7 Oakland Boulevard on Meadowbrook continuing going 8 westbound. And as we're going westbound, we see a 9 two-door vehicle -- two-door black vehicle going 10 eastbound with 19 headlights off. And the 11 description we had gotten at that point was a 12 two-door black vehicle. That's what me and my 13 rookie knew at that time. So we turned around and 14 we turned on our lights and hit our siren. And as 15 we're trying to catch up to the car, the car just 16 takes off from us at a very high rate of speed. 17 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Officer -- 18 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, may I 19 approach the Maverick? 20 THE COURT: You may. 21 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Officer Cantu, Officer 22 Macha testified earlier that this map is a fair and 23 accurate depiction of the search. And I had an 24 opportunity to show it to you this morning in my 25 office. And do you agree with Officer Macha that it Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 53 1 is a fair and accurate depiction of the pursuit as a 2 whole? 3 A Yes. 4 Q All right. And so you were describing for 5 the Judge -- and I'm going to point the screen that 6 you were parked at the QT right at 820 and I-30; is 7 that correct? 8 A Yeah. It's going to be Brentwood Stair 9 and 820. 10 Q I'm sorry, Brentwood Stair and 820. And 11 so you and Officer Graves are together at that time? 12 A No. Officer Graves was in another 13 vehicle. I was training another officer, and he was 14 driving. So we were in two separate patrol cars at 15 that time. 16 Q All right. And had you had some 17 information that the defendant or the suspect car at 18 that point was located somewhere in that area 19 previous to this occasion? 20 A Yeah. We had been notified -- and it was 21 kind of normal, kind of protocol, whenever a pursuit 22 leaves our city, especially in our side of town, if 23 you're not involved, to kind of hang out at the 24 entry points back in the city, like the freeways 25 leading back in the city, because a lot of times the Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 54 1 vehicle will re-enter the city, so -- that's what we 2 were doing. And a lot of the vehicles that were 3 involved in the pursuit had ran out of gas, so 4 that's why we were at the gas station, initially, so 5 we would make sure that if the pursuit did get 6 started again that we would have gas. So that's why 7 we're sitting there. And we were notified to kind 8 of stay in the area and then Officer Macha was 9 pursuing the car. I believe it was down 820, but 10 they were coming back into our city. So we know 11 that the vehicle was coming back into our city. 12 Q All right. And so the pursuit had 13 essentially ended up around the airport and you 14 believed that it was possible that the suspect 15 vehicle could re-enter the city? 16 A Yes. 17 Q And so you and Officer Graves were 18 stationed in that area? 19 A Yes. 20 Q All right. And so you testified earlier 21 that Officer Graves is the first one to spot the 22 vehicle which matched the description? 23 A Yes. 24 Q And so he begins following that vehicle. 25 And then you said, eventually loses sight of it, Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 55 1 correct? 2 A Yes. 3 Q So you told the Judge earlier that you and 4 your Officer Magado (phonetic)? 5 A Magado (phonetic), yes. 6 Q Are trying -- in the process of trying to 7 catch up to Officer Graves and the pursuit when you 8 see the vehicle pass you? 9 A Yes. 10 Q Going the opposite direction? 11 A Yeah. It was going -- we were going 12 westbound, kind of to go into the neighborhood that 13 Officer Graves had lost the vehicle in, and this 14 vehicle was passing us going eastbound. 15 Q And you said it matched the color, the 16 description -- and the description of the vehicle 17 that had, to your knowledge, been involved in this 18 entire pursuit? 19 A Yes, it did. 20 Q All right. And so once you see the 21 vehicle pass you, what do you do? 22 A So once we see the vehicle pass us, it had 23 19 headlights off. And, I mean, obviously it 24 matched the description we're given and it was 25 obviously suspicious that the headlights were off. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 56 1 It was approximately 2:00 o'clock in the morning. 2 So we make a U-turn on Meadowbrook and start heading 3 eastbound. Officer Magado initiates our red and 4 blue lights and we start trying to catch up to the 5 car to reinitiate the pursuit, and, I mean, as we 6 turned our lights on, the car just takes off from 7 us. 8 Q Did that give you further confirmation 9 that you were following the right vehicle? 10 A Yes. So it went through the light at 11 Meadowbrook and Oakland, and we just -- we tried our 12 best to try to catch up to it, but it was pulling 13 away from us the entire time. And so Officer 14 Graves, he was -- he happened to be in front of us 15 on Oakland, and he got behind the vehicle, so he was 16 closer at that point than we were. 17 Q So I want to make sure I understand so 18 that the Judge understands. So essentially Officer 19 Graves picks the vehicle back up, follows it down 20 Meadowbrook, loses it, you guys take over, you pick 21 it up, and then as soon as you pick it up and you're 22 trying to catch back up with it, Officer Graves was 23 able to get in front of you. And so fair to say 24 that once you picked it up back up, you never lost 25 sight of the vehicle? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 57 1 A That's correct, yes. 2 Q So were you involved in the -- I guess, 3 tell the Judge what happens after you and Officer 4 Graves were in pursuit? 5 A So as we're going northbound on Oakland, 6 Officer Graves, he had initially picked the vehicle 7 up on Brentwood Stair, and when he got on 8 Meadowbrook and Oakland that's when he ended up 9 losing it. So we then picked it up, Officer 10 Graves -- we were called out on the radio that we 11 were in pursuit in the vehicle again and Officer 12 Graves just happened to be coming down south on 13 Oakland Boulevard from Interstate 30, and the 14 vehicle was driving northbound on Oakland. So he 15 made a U-turn in front of us since were so far away 16 from the vehicle and we couldn't catch up, that he 17 got in front of us and he was the first vehicle at 18 that point who was in pursuit. 19 So we're behind Officer Graves. We're 20 following him trying to catch up to him. We get up 21 to Randol Mill. We go westbound up on Randol Mill. 22 And as -- I can't recall which cross street we're 23 passing, but as we're driving westbound on Randol 24 Mill, the vehicle starts to slow down. So Officer 25 Graves starts to slow down, and we finally catch up Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 58 1 to Officer Graves and then the vehicle just stops. 2 Once the vehicle stops, the driver jumps out of the 3 driver's side of the car -- the driver's door -- and 4 runs -- keeps running westbound down the street and 5 then runs north into a field which -- where he was 6 taken into custody. 7 Q Now, Officer Cantu, were you involved in 8 that foot pursuit? 9 A Yes, I was. 10 Q Did you observe the driver of the vehicle 11 get out of the car and run? 12 A Yes, I did. 13 Q Do you see that driver in the courtroom? 14 A Yes, I do. 15 Q Officer Cantu, can you point to him and 16 identify an article of clothing that he is wearing. 17 A It's the gentleman sitting here with the 18 black glasses on, black shirt. 19 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, may the 20 record reflect that the witness has correctly 21 identified the defendant. 22 THE COURT: The record will so 23 reflect. 24 MS. KUCERA: Thank you, Your Honor. 25 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Officer Cantu -- or, I'm Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 59 1 sorry, Detective, the vehicle that you were driving 2 that evening, was it equipped with a dash camera? 3 A Yes, it was. 4 Q Was that dash camera capable of making an 5 accurate recording of the events that took place? 6 A Yes, it was. 7 Q Have you had a chance to review that dash 8 camera prior to testifying? 9 A Yes, I did. 10 Q Does that camera -- does the video fairly 11 and accurately depict the events that took place? 12 A Yes, it does. 13 Q Does it depict to the point where you pick 14 up the defendant's vehicle all the way until the 15 apprehension? 16 A Yes. So when we turned on our overhead 17 red and blue emergency lights, the camera goes back 18 approximately 30 seconds, I believe, so it shows 19 whenever Officer Magado hit the lights. We had 20 already -- I can't recall if we had already made the 21 U-turn and we're heading eastbound following the 22 vehicle, or if we were making the U-turn at the 23 moment he hit his lights, but it doesn't have us 24 coming westbound past Oakland where the vehicle is 25 passing us, because at that time we didn't have our Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 60 1 camera on, we didn't have our emergency lights on, 2 so the camera wasn't rolling at that point. 3 Q But it eventually turns on at 30 seconds 4 after you turn your lights -- 5 A Once it's turned on the camera is on, but 6 it goes back 30 seconds. So it captures us the 7 moment we turn our overhead lights on going 8 eastbound following the car and then going 9 northbound on Oakland. 10 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, may I 11 approach the witness? 12 THE COURT: You may. 13 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Detective, I'm going to 14 hand you what's been marked as State's Exhibit 15 No. 2. Do you recognize that? 16 A Yes, I do. 17 Q And are those your initials on State's 18 Exhibit 2? 19 A Yes, they are. 20 Q And does State's Exhibit 2 contain the 21 dash camera that we're specifically talking about? 22 A Yes, it does. 23 Q And, again, does that dash camera, that 24 you've had a chance to review, fairly and accurately 25 depict the events that you've just described for the Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 61 1 Judge? 2 A Yes, it does. 3 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, at this time 4 I would offer Detective Cantu's dash camera and 5 tender to defense counsel and ask that it be 6 admitted. 7 (State's Exhibit 2 offered) 8 MR. BURNS: Objection to it being 9 outside the scope of the petition, Your Honor. 10 THE COURT: That's overruled and the 11 dash camera on State's 2 is admitted. 12 (State's Exhibit 2 admitted) 13 MS. KUCERA: Thank you, Your Honor. 14 May I have permission to publish to the Court? 15 THE COURT: That's granted. 16 (State's Exhibit 2 being 17 published in open court) 18 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Now, Detective, on the 19 video you can see the lights on another police car. 20 Is that Officer Graves's police lights that had -- 21 A Yes. The one that's in front of us, 22 that's Officer Graves. 23 Q So he was able to get right behind the 24 suspect vehicle? 25 A Yes, he was. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 62 1 Q Detective, do you recall how fast you were 2 going at this point? 3 A I wasn't driving at the time, so I'm 4 not -- I'm not sure how fast we were going. But we 5 were going well over the speed limit. I know that. 6 We were trying to catch up. Officer Magado, he was 7 in his training phase of his field training. So he 8 was a little hesitant to go too fast. So that's why 9 we were having a little trouble at this point. He 10 was kind of new. I don't know if he'd been involved 11 in a pursuit at that time. But even with his 12 driving, we weren't able to catch up to Officer 13 Graves, and I was telling him the entire time to 14 catch up to Officer Graves. 15 Q Now, the video is at 2 minutes and 40 16 seconds. Is this approximately when the vehicle 17 begins to run out of gas? 18 A Yes. 19 Q Officer, do you recall if the Air One 20 helicopter was involved in this pursuit? 21 A Yes, it was. 22 Q Detective, do you remember if there was 23 anyone else in the vehicle at the time? 24 A Whenever -- which is about to happen -- 25 the driver is going to get out and continue running Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 63 1 westbound. Me and Officer Graves are going to 2 pursue him on foot. No one else got out of the car. 3 I mean, to that point, Officer Magado ends up 4 clearing the car for other people, but no one else 5 got out of the car. 6 Q No one else located in the vehicle? 7 A No one else is located inside the vehicle. 8 Q Now, at about 3 minutes and 40 seconds, 9 can you observe you running past the suspect vehicle 10 to apprehend the defendant on foot? 11 A Yes. 12 Q And this vehicle that you were following, 13 that Officer Graves got in front of you, same 14 vehicle that you were following? 15 A Yes. 16 Q Were you able to apprehend the driver of 17 this vehicle? 18 A Yes, we were. 19 MS. KUCERA: Pass the witness. 20 MR. BURNS: No questions for this 21 witness, Your Honor. 22 THE COURT: You may step down, 23 Officer. 24 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, may this 25 witness be excused? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 64 1 MR. BURNS: Yes, Your Honor. 2 THE COURT: You may step down, and 3 you are excused. 4 MS. KUCERA: At this time, Your 5 Honor, the State would call Officer Steven Graves. 6 THE COURT: Raise your right hand. 7 (Witness sworn) 8 THE WITNESS: I do. 9 THE COURT: Have a seat sir. 10 STEVEN GRAVES, 11 having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 12 DIRECT EXAMINATION 13 BY MS. KUCERA: 14 Q Officer Graves, can you state and spell 15 your name for the court reporter. 16 A Steven Graves, S-t-e-v-e-n, G-r-a-v-e-s. 17 Q And, Officer, how are you currently 18 employed? 19 A Fort Worth Police Department, with the 20 gang unit. 21 Q How long have you been a police officer at 22 Fort Worth? 23 A Fort Worth, going on three and a half 24 years. 25 Q Were you a police officer somewhere else? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 65 1 A In Azle. 2 Q In what capacity were you working for Fort 3 Worth on September 22nd, 2017? 4 A I was working patrol on the east side. 5 Q And do you recall being involved in a high 6 speed choice on the 22nd? 7 A Yes, ma'am. 8 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, I renew my 9 objection of this witness as being outside the scope 10 of the petition. 11 THE COURT: Okay. You have a running 12 objection. 13 MS. KUCERA: Thank you, Your Honor. 14 MR. BURNS: And may I renew my 15 objection to this witness as well? 16 THE COURT: Running objection is for 17 the whole thing throughout the hearing. 18 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) I'm sorry. I forgot what 19 I was asking you. How -- were you involved in a 20 high speed chase on September 22nd? 21 A Yes, ma'am. 22 Q And Officer Macha and Officer Graves both 23 previously testified -- and do you recall, just 24 generally speaking, the pursuit -- is it fair to say 25 the pursuit had gone throughout a large portion of Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 66 1 the metroplex? 2 A Yes, ma'am. 3 Q And so were you stationed at the entrance 4 back into Fort Worth in the hopes that the 5 defendant's vehicle would show up? 6 A Yes, ma'am. 7 Q And so can you tell the Court where you 8 were at the time? 9 A I was at Brentwood Stair and 30. 10 Q Okay. Any particular reason you were at 11 that location? 12 A We had just got gas, just finished getting 13 gas. 14 Q All right. And so did you happen to see 15 the suspect vehicle? 16 A Yes, ma'am. 17 Q And can you tell the Judge what you saw? 18 A As I was leaving the gas station going 19 westbound on Brentwood Stair at the -- at East Loop 20 820, I saw a black two-door vehicle traveling at a 21 high rate of speed, exit 30, and go westbound on 22 Brentwood Stair Road. 23 Q And did you recognize that vehicle as the 24 one that was matching what had been called out to 25 you over the radio? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 67 1 A Initially, no. 2 Q And then what happened? 3 A As I started trying to catch up to it, 4 and -- he turned southbound on Oakhill. And when I 5 observed what the vehicle was, and I recognized it 6 then. 7 Q And how fast was he traveling at this 8 point? 9 A It was a very high rate of speed. 10 Q So was it difficult for you to catch up to 11 him? 12 A Yes, ma'am. 13 Q So did you then initiate a pursuit? 14 A Yes, ma'am. 15 Q And what happened? 16 A He failed to yield the right of way. And 17 we continued southbound on Oakhill until we turned 18 westbound on Meadowbrook. 19 Q What happened when you turned westbound on 20 Meadowbrook? 21 A We continued at a very high rate of speed, 22 and he slowly pulled away from me. It got too far 23 to where I couldn't see him anymore. I couldn't see 24 taillights. 25 Q And so did you have your lights on at this Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 68 1 point? 2 A Yes, ma'am, lights and sirens. 3 Q And were you calling out over the radio 4 your location? 5 A Yes, ma'am. 6 Q And once you couldn't see his taillights 7 and you lost him, did you call that out over the 8 radio? 9 A Yes, ma'am. 10 Q And were you made aware of the fact that 11 Officer -- or, now Detective Cantu, was able to 12 locate him on Meadowbrook in the opposite direction? 13 A Yes, ma'am. After I lost sight of him, I 14 started heading back to the last point where I saw 15 him. And at that time Officer Cantu called out that 16 the vehicle had passed by him. 17 Q And what did you do when you learned of 18 their location? 19 A I was traveling southbound on Oakland when 20 Officer Cantu saw him coming eastbound on 21 Meadowbrook. And so he called out that he had 22 turned northbound on Oakland, which was coming my 23 direction, so I made a U-turn in the middle of the 24 road and waited at an intersection for the vehicle 25 to come by. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 69 1 Q And did that vehicle pass you? 2 A Yes, ma'am. 3 Q Did that vehicle match the same vehicle 4 that you had been following just previously? 5 A Yes, ma'am. 6 Q And did that same vehicle match the exact 7 same description of the one that had been involved 8 in this DFW metroplex pursuit? 9 A Yes, ma'am. 10 Q And so were you able to get behind the 11 vehicle? 12 A Yes, ma'am. 13 Q And once you were able to get behind the 14 vehicle, were you able to maintain a visual on that 15 vehicle? 16 A Yes, ma'am. 17 Q So can you tell the Judge what happened 18 after you began following the vehicle? 19 A I followed the vehicle over I-30 and then 20 went over to Randol Mill and went westbound. Then I 21 keep eyes on the taillights throughout until I could 22 see. And on Randol Mill I started catching more 23 ground. I started gaining ground because I noticed 24 the vehicle had started slowing -- slowing down, at 25 which we came to a stop. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 70 1 Q When you were following this vehicle, did 2 you observe multiple traffic violations? 3 A Yes, ma'am. 4 Q Speeding? 5 A Yes, ma'am. 6 Q Running stop signs or not yielding to 7 traffic devices or signals? 8 A Yes, ma'am. 9 Q Anything else? 10 A I used a turn signal. 11 Q Okay. And so the vehicle starts slowing 12 down. What happens after the vehicle starts slowing 13 down? 14 A When it came to a stop, the driver exited 15 the driver's seat and began running. 16 Q What did you do? 17 A I exited my patrol vehicle and began 18 chasing him. 19 Q And what did you observe when you chased 20 him? What happened? 21 A I followed him into a field. When there 22 was officers behind me -- when he was tackled by 23 another officer who was coming from the opposite 24 direction. 25 Q So was this -- the driver of the vehicle Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 71 1 taken into custody? 2 A Yes, ma'am. 3 Q Any doubt in your mind that the driver of 4 that vehicle is the same person who was taken into 5 custody and arrested? 6 A No, ma'am. 7 Q Do you see that driver in the court today? 8 A Yes, ma'am. 9 Q Will you point to him and identify an 10 article of clothing he's wearing? 11 A The gentleman with glasses wearing a green 12 shirt. 13 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, may the 14 record reflect the witness has correctly identified 15 the defendant. 16 THE COURT: The record will so 17 reflect. 18 MS. KUCERA: Thank you, Your Honor. 19 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Officer, when you were 20 operating your vehicle that night, was your vehicle 21 equipped with a dash camera? 22 A Yes, ma'am. 23 Q And was that dash camera capable of making 24 an accurate recording of the events that took place? 25 A Yes, ma'am. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 72 1 Q And was it activated during this pursuit? 2 A Yes, ma'am. 3 Q Have you had a chance to review that dash 4 cam prior to testifying this morning? 5 A I have. 6 Q And when you were able to review that, was 7 the dash camera a fair and accurate depiction of the 8 events that took place that night? 9 A Yes, ma'am. 10 Q And were there any additions or deletions 11 made to that video? 12 A No, ma'am. 13 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, may I 14 approach the witness? 15 THE COURT: You may. 16 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Officer, I'm going to 17 hand you what has been marked as State's Exhibit 2. 18 Do you recognize that? 19 A I do. 20 Q And do you see your initials on that? 21 A Yes, ma'am. 22 Q And is that this video that you watched of 23 your dash camera, the same video we have been 24 talking about that's been describing the same events 25 that took place? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 73 1 A Yes, ma'am. 2 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, at this time 3 I would offer Officer Graves's dash camera video, 4 State's Exhibit -- that's listed on State's Exhibit 5 No. 2. 6 (State's Exhibit 2 offered) 7 MR. BURNS: Just object to being 8 outside the scope of the petition, Your Honor. 9 THE COURT: Overruled. State's 2 10 dash cam video of Officer Graves is admitted. 11 (State's Exhibit 2 admitted) 12 MS. KUCERA: Thank you, Your Honor. 13 May I have permission to publish to the Court? 14 THE COURT: That's granted. 15 MS. KUCERA: Thank you, Your Honor. 16 Q (BY MS. KUCERA) Now, Officer Graves, can 17 you describe what's going on in this video? 18 A So this video is after I lost him the 19 first initial time. 20 Q And what road are you on? 21 A We are on Interstate 30 traveling 22 eastbound. About this time Officer Cantu had said 23 that he was -- the suspect had passed him traveling 24 eastbound on Meadowbrook. This is getting ready to 25 be Oakland Hill -- I'm sorry, Oakland Boulevard Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 74 1 which he made a right turn, southbound on... 2 Q And so you're heading back to that 3 location to try to intercept the vehicle? 4 A Yes, ma'am. 5 Q So at 1 minute and 15 seconds you initiate 6 a U-turn, and that vehicle you are currently getting 7 behind is the suspect vehicle? 8 A Yes, ma'am. 9 Q How fast do you think that vehicle was 10 going at the time? 11 A Somewhere probably between 70 and 80. 12 Q And is that at a residential neighborhood? 13 A Yes, ma'am. 14 Q And is that, in your opinion, extremely 15 dangerous? 16 A Yes, ma'am. 17 Q Officer, what street is this that you're 18 turning left on? 19 A 19 Randol Mill but maybe East First Street 20 right there. It splits there on Oakland. 21 Q And those taillights that you can see on 22 the video, are those the taillights of the suspect 23 vehicle? 24 A Yes, ma'am. 25 Q Now, there's a light that's shining on Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 75 1 the -- the vehicle, is that the Air One helicopter? 2 A Yes, ma'am. 3 Q Now, Officer, at 4 minutes and 9 seconds 4 on your video, what are you observing? 5 A The driver exited the vehicle and began 6 running on foot. 7 Q Are you also chasing him on foot? 8 A Yes, ma'am. 9 Q And you described it earlier that he runs 10 north here into a field. And are you able to 11 apprehend him? 12 A Yes, ma'am. 13 Q Any doubt in your mind that with your 14 lights flashing and the type of vehicle that you 15 were driving, which is a patrol vehicle, that this 16 defendant knew you were a police officer attempting 17 to lawfully arrest or detain him? 18 A No, ma'am. 19 MS. KUCERA: I'll pass the witness. 20 CROSS-EXAMINATION 21 BY MR. BURNS: 22 Q After Mr. Hongpathoum was arrested in the 23 field, he was taken in the back of the police car; 24 is that correct? 25 A I would assume so. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 76 1 MR. BURNS: Pass the witness, 2 Your Honor. 3 MS. KUCERA: I have no further 4 questions for this witness. May he be excused? 5 MR. BURNS: Yes, Your Honor. 6 THE COURT: You may step down, sir, 7 and you're excused. 8 MS. BELL: The State would call 9 Officer SanFilippo. 10 MR. BURNS: Could we take a short 11 break, Your Honor? 12 THE COURT: Yes. 13 (Recess from 10:53 a.m. - 14 11:07 a.m.) 15 THE COURT: Raise your right hand. 16 (Witness sworn) 17 THE WITNESS: I do. 18 THE COURT: Have a seat, sir. 19 ROBERT SANFILIPPO, 20 having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 21 DIRECT EXAMINATION 22 BY MS. BELL: 23 Q Good morning, Officer. Would you please 24 introduce yourself and spell your name for the court 25 reporter. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 77 1 A I'm Officer Robert SanFilippo, 2 S-a-n-F-i-l-i-p-p-o. 3 Q Officer San Filippo, how are you currently 4 employed? 5 A I'm an officer with the Fort Worth PD. 6 Q And what did you do before that? 7 A I was a corrections officer for 12 years. 8 Q Do you recall what you were doing 9 December 11th of 2017? 10 A Yes, ma'am. 11 Q And what was that? What were you doing 12 that evening? 13 A Routine patrol. 14 Q And where were you doing your routine 15 patrol? 16 A In the area of Beach and Northeast 28th. 17 Q And did you observe anything that caught 18 your attention? 19 A Yes. I observed the suspect vehicle. 20 Q And how did you know it was a suspect 21 vehicle? 22 A I was involved in a short pursuit where 23 the suspect vehicle evaded about one week prior. 24 Q And that week prior had y'all been able to 25 catch that suspect vehicle? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 78 1 A No, ma'am, it was too fast. 2 Q And what about that suspect vehicle did 3 you see this night in question? 4 A It was a small black two-door. It had the 5 license plate stuck up on the top left corner of the 6 windshield. It was very recognizable. 7 Q What did you do next? 8 A I parked in the parking lot and I waited 9 for the driver to come out. 10 Q And then what happened? 11 A Driver came out, got into the vehicle, and 12 I pulled up behind the car, initiated an 13 investigatory stop to try and ID the driver. 14 Q Was that successful? 15 A No. The driver decided to turn the car on 16 and back up into my police car and take off. 17 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, I object 18 least for now just the backing into the police car 19 being outside the scope of the petition. 20 THE COURT: Overruled. 21 Q (BY MS. BELL) After you backed into your 22 police car and started driving away, what did you 23 do? 24 A I engaged in a pursuit. 25 Q Now, Officer, how long was this pursuit, Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 79 1 roughly? 2 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, I object 3 again to the evading outside the scope, and may we 4 have a running objection on that? 5 THE COURT: 19 overruled, and you may 6 have a running objection. 7 A In excess of 30 minutes. 8 Q (BY MS. BELL) And how many ground units 9 were called out? 10 A Twenty-eight ground units. 11 Q And was anybody else called out on this 12 particular evading? 13 A Our helicopter. 14 Q And why was the helicopter called out? 15 A Because we couldn't keep up with the car. 16 It was too fast. 17 Q So you had 28 ground units and a 18 helicopter. Did y'all maintain a visual on this 19 suspect vehicle during the whole evading? 20 A We did have enough units to keep a visual 21 eye on him, yes. 22 THE COURT: How is this car so much 23 faster than your police cars? 24 THE WITNESS: It's a brand new Toyota 25 FR-S. It has a top speed of 146 miles per hour. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 80 1 Our squad typically won't go over 130. 2 Q (BY MS. BELL) So when you started the 3 pursuit, where were you at? 4 A It was at North Beach and Northeast 28th. 5 Q And that's in Tarrant County? 6 A It is in Tarrant County, yes. 7 Q And that vehicle that you described, what 8 was it again? 9 A A 1216 Toyota FR-S. 10 Q And that's considered a motor vehicle? 11 A Yes. 12 Q Now, Officer, did you -- were you part of 13 the pursuit from the beginning to the end? 14 A No, about a few minutes into it I struck a 15 curb and bent a wheel, so I had to drop out early. 16 Q And why did you drop out early? What was 17 the bent wheel keeping you from doing? 18 A I couldn't keep up. 19 Q Did you run the -- how did you identify 20 the defendant? 21 A He was involved in a pursuit about a month 22 and a half prior to my pursuit, and I knew his face. 23 THE COURT: Were you involved in that 24 pursuit. 25 THE WITNESS: No, ma'am. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 81 1 THE COURT: How did you know his face 2 from that pursuit then? 3 THE WITNESS: My teammate chased him. 4 We share information. 5 THE COURT: So you saw his face 6 through your teammate? 7 THE WITNESS: No, his booking photo. 8 Q (BY MS. BELL) And although you had to 9 drop out of the pursuit early, did you state -- 10 through radio, did you know where the pursuit was 11 heading, and what was going on throughout the whole 12 course of this event? 13 A Yes. Yes, I did. 14 Q Did you -- when did you end up getting the 15 suspect's name? Did you remember when about you 16 realized who it was and you ran his name? 17 A Probably a few minutes into the chase. 18 Q And you told me -- based on your offense 19 report, did you look him up and did you confirm any 20 warrants or anything of this defendant? 21 A I had an idea that he had a warrant 22 already, but I had not already confirmed it. 23 Q And during this course of these events, 24 did you end up doing that? 25 A Yes. I did run him, and he showed seven Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 82 1 warrants. 2 Q Officer San Filippo, did you have a body 3 cam that night? 4 A Yes, I did. 5 Q And do you know how to properly 6 activate it? 7 A Yes, I do. 8 Q And did you have video from this incident 9 in question? 10 A I do. 11 Q And this morning did you watch it on a 12 disk? 13 A Yes, I did review it. 14 Q And does it fairly and accurately 15 represent the proceedings of that night? 16 A Yes, it does. 17 MS. BELL: Your Honor, may I approach 18 the witness? 19 THE COURT: You may. 20 Q (BY MS. BELL) Officer, I'm handing you 21 what's been marked as State's Exhibit 3. Do you 22 recognize it? 23 A Yes, ma'am, I do. 24 Q And how do you recognize it? 25 A It's initialed and dated by me. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 83 1 MS. BELL: Your Honor, I'm going to 2 tender to Defense. 3 (State's Exhibit 3 offered) 4 MR. BURNS: We just object that the 5 acts depicted are outside the scope of the petition. 6 THE COURT: Overruled. State's 3 is 7 admitted. Does it have multiple files on it like 8 State's 2? 9 (State's Exhibit 3 admitted) 10 MS. BELL: No, Your Honor. This one 11 only has SanFilippo's body cam. 12 THE COURT: And were all of the files 13 on State's 2 offered and admitted? Are there any 14 files that didn't come in through a witness? 15 MS. KUCERA: Yes, Your Honor, there 16 are files on State's 2 that were not published to 17 the Court or admitted through a witness. I can 18 articulate those at the conclusion. 19 THE COURT: Okay. 20 MS. BELL: Permission to publish? 21 THE COURT: That's granted. 22 This is your body cam? 23 THE WITNESS: That's cool. Yes. 24 Q (BY MS. BELL) At this point, what's 25 happened? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 84 1 A He's gotten into the car, and I'm pulling 2 up to make contact. 3 Q Now, why did you pull your gun out? 4 A I'm sorry. What was the question? 5 Q So right here you pulled your gun out. 6 Why did you pull your gun out? 7 A He stuck his hand in his right pocket. I 8 sort of heard a movement. I thought he might have 9 had a gun out. 10 Q And did you have any prior information 11 that might have led you to believe that he had a 12 gun? 13 A Yes. The last time he was captured, he 14 had a loaded pistol. 15 Q Okay. Thank you. So when you say he's 16 "blacking out", what does that mean? 17 A That means he turns all his lights off. 18 Q And what type of area were y'all driving 19 through? 20 A That's a residential area. 21 Q And would you say you were driving fast or 22 slow? 23 A Extremely fast. 24 Q And was he stopping at the stop signs? 25 A No, ma'am. He didn't even slow down at Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 85 1 the stop signs. 2 Q How many stop signs would you say, during 3 the course of you chasing him, that he ran? 4 A Roughly ten. 5 Q And how fast would you estimate that you 6 were going right about now through this residential 7 area? 8 A In excess of 80 miles an hour. 9 Q So you had just hit a curb and you knew 10 you were about to be disabled? 11 A Yes, ma'am. 12 Q What did you do? 13 A Called out for additional units. 14 Q Now, are you able to see the defendant's 15 vehicle at this time? 16 A Yes, ma'am. 17 Q Now, Officer, when did you end your 18 pursuit? 19 A I ended my pursuit when my vehicle 20 wouldn't go any further. 21 Q And was there someone there to follow him 22 at that time? 23 A Yes, there was. 24 MS. BELL: And, Your Honor, 19 on 25 video, but in the interest of time, I was going to Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 86 1 go ahead and pause it at 6 minutes and 30 seconds 2 unless you'd like to see the rest? 3 THE COURT: No. Go ahead and pause 4 it. 5 Q (BY MS. BELL) Officer San Filippo, when 6 you initially approached him, is there any doubt in 7 your mind that he knew you were a police officer? 8 A There was no doubt. 9 Q And were you attempting to detain him? 10 A Yes, I was. 11 Q And so, in your opinion, was he knowingly 12 and intentionally fleeing? 13 A Yes, he was. 14 Q And when you knocked on his window, were 15 you able to get a good look at him? 16 A Yes. 17 Q And do you see that person in the 18 courtroom today? 19 A Yes, ma'am. 20 Q And would you please identify him by an 21 article of clothing? 22 A He's wearing a green shirt right there. 23 MS. BELL: Your Honor, may the record 24 reflect that the witness has identified the 25 defendant. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 87 1 THE COURT: The record will so 2 reflect. 3 MS. BELL: Thank you, Your Honor. 4 State will pass the witness. 5 CROSS-EXAMINATION 6 BY MR. BURNS: 7 Q Good morning, Officer Filippo? 8 A Good morning, sir. 9 Q You mentioned on your direct examination 10 that you saw a booking photo of the defendant, and 11 that's how you recognized him? 12 A That's correct. 13 Q Now, how did you get that photo, was it 14 just attached to the car and y'all looked up the 15 owner of the car? 16 A No, sir. 19 part of our MS database. 17 Q But how did you get a photo? You saw a 18 car in a pursuit, correct? And that car got away? 19 A Correct. 20 Q Right? 21 A Yes. 22 Q Okay. So how did you get from there to 23 the booking photo of Mr. Hongpathoum? 24 A From the initial pursuit from my partner. 25 THE COURT: Are we talking about two Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 88 1 or three pursuits? 2 THE WITNESS: Three total. 3 THE COURT: So we've got a pursuit in 4 September, a pursuit that was a little bit before 5 this. How long before this? December? 6 THE WITNESS: About a week. 7 THE COURT: So the week before this, 8 and then this is the third pursuit? 9 THE WITNESS: Yes. 10 THE COURT: You got the booking photo 11 from which pursuit? 12 THE WITNESS: The first one. 13 THE COURT: Okay. And what caused 14 you to associate that booking photo with this car 15 that you saw in the convenience store? 16 THE WITNESS: It was the same car. 17 THE COURT: How did you know that? 18 THE WITNESS: Because of the license 19 plate up in the top left corner of the windshield. 20 THE COURT: Okay. It was the 21 location of the license plate. Did you have the 22 license plate number? 23 THE WITNESS: I did. 24 THE COURT: From which pursuit? 25 THE WITNESS: Both. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 89 1 THE COURT: From pursuit number one 2 and pursuit number two? 3 THE WITNESS: Yes. 4 THE COURT: All right. And so you 5 saw the license plate number and the distinctive 6 license plate, and you had an idea of who you were 7 looking for from September book-in? 8 THE WITNESS: Yes. Yeah. 9 THE COURT: Okay. 10 MR. BURNS: Thank you, Your Honor. 11 Q (BY MR. BURNS) Is it safe to say -- or 12 fair to say from that -- in the pursuit a week 13 before you never laid eyes on the driver? 14 A I did not personally, no. 15 Q Now, in reference to the video, is it fair 16 to say that at no point that we saw on the video was 17 he free to just drive off and leave? Is that fair 18 to say? 19 A He was not free to leave. 20 Q And that's from the very beginning of the 21 video, correct? 22 A Yes. 23 Q And at that point the behavior you had 24 observed from him was exiting the store and getting 25 in the car; is that fair to say? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 90 1 A That's correct. 2 MR. BURNS: Pass this witness, 3 Your Honor. 4 MS. BELL: No further questions. May 5 this witness be excused? 6 MR. BURNS: Subject to recall, 7 Your Honor. 8 THE COURT: You are excused. You're 9 subject to recall. That means you need to be 10 reachable. 11 MS. BELL: The State would call 12 Officer Rath. 13 THE COURT: Raise your right hand. 14 (Witness sworn) 15 THE WITNESS: I do. 16 THE COURT: Have a seat sir. 17 MARK RATH, 18 having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 19 DIRECT EXAMINATION 20 BY MS. BELL: 21 Q Good morning, Officer Rath, would you 22 please spell your name for the court reporter. 23 A Last name Rath, R-a-t-h. 24 Q Thank you. And how are you currently 25 employed? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 91 1 A The aviation unit -- air support unit, 2 Fort Worth PD. 3 Q And what does that entail? 4 A We give air support -- helicopter air 5 support to most patrol -- to anybody in the city 6 that needs it, not just the police department. 7 Q And how long have you been employed in 8 that position? 9 A Eight years. 10 Q And, Officer, did you receive training to 11 become a peace officer? 12 A Yes. 13 Q A police officer? 14 A Yes. 15 Q And the Judge has heard before, but you 16 received all the training that police officers have 17 to be -- pardon me -- you went through the police 18 academy? 19 A Yes, ma'am. 20 Q And how long have you been a police 21 officer? 22 A Fort Worth, 22 years. 23 Q Officer Rath, the night in question is 24 December 11th of 2017. Were you dispatched at that 25 time? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 92 1 A I don't remember if we were actually 2 dispatched or if we were just up and heard it, but 3 we got on the call, yes. 4 Q And so "up and heard it", could you 5 explain to me what that means? 6 A We try to do some patrol if we have a 7 helicopter available and we're not down with the 8 weather or something. We just try to just get out 9 and do some flying and we'll monitor the radio and 10 if we hear something we'll try to head that way if 11 we're already in the air and try to get to it before 12 19 over. 13 Q So in the helicopter, is there some kind 14 of camera? 15 A Yes, ma'am. 16 Q And do you know how to operate that? 17 A I do. 18 Q And what are the capabilities of this 19 camera? 20 A 19 the one that we have in the helicopter 21 that we were in that night was our better one -- we 22 got two of them -- but it's got a good zoom. FLIR, 23 forward looking infrared, you can see in total dark, 24 so there's almost nothing you can't see with it as 25 long as its not been sitting out in the heat. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 93 1 Q And you said it has a good zoom. What 2 does that mean? 3 A A lot more zoom than most cameras that I 4 know of. You can pick out a car several miles away 5 and usually be able to tell two-door, four-door, 6 maybe a make. 7 Q And how fast would you say that the 8 helicopter -- how fast can a helicopter go? 9 A The one that we got, depending on when, 10 but on a calm night, if you push it, it will run 11 about 125 miles an hour. 12 Q So would you say 19 fair to say that 19 13 unusual for a vehicle to outrun the helicopter? 14 A It is. 15 Q And did you review your footage of this 16 incident? 17 A Yes, ma'am. 18 Q And was there a time when y'all were 19 losing -- the car was escaping the helicopter? 20 A There was. 21 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, I object 22 again to being outside the scope for this witness. 23 THE COURT: Overruled. 24 Q (BY MS. BELL) Officer Rath, did you have 25 a chance to review your footage with me this Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 94 1 morning? 2 A Yes, ma'am. 3 Q And was it on the CD? 4 A Yes, ma'am. 5 Q Does it fairly and accurately depict this 6 offense? 7 A It does. 8 MS. BELL: Your Honor, may I approach 9 the witness? 10 THE COURT: You may. 11 Q (BY MS. BELL) Officer Rath, I'm handing 12 you what's been marked as State's Exhibit 4. Do you 13 recognize it? 14 A I do. 15 Q And how do you recognize it? 16 A It's by Air 19, that's on it and my 17 initials and ID number. 18 Q Thank you. 19 MS. BELL: Your Honor, I'm going to 20 tender to defense and enter into evidence State's 21 Exhibit 4. 22 (State's Exhibit 4 offered) 23 MR. BURNS: I'm going to ask that -- 24 that's the only video on here? 25 MS. BELL: Yes. That's the only Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 95 1 video on here. 2 MR. BURNS: Just object to it being 3 outside the scope of the petition, Your Honor. 4 THE COURT: That's overruled. 5 State's 4 is admitted. 6 (State's Exhibit 4 admitted) 7 MS. BELL: Permission to publish, 8 Judge? 9 THE COURT: That's granted. 10 MR. BURNS: Thank you. 11 Q (BY MS. BURNS) And, Officer Rath, how 12 long would you estimate this vehicle to be? How 13 long would you estimate this pursuit to be? 14 A Time wise? 15 Q Yes. 16 A It was about 30 minutes, maybe a little 17 less. 18 Q And throughout the video, because we 19 reviewed it this morning, are there instances where 20 there's traffic that they're having to weave in and 21 out through? 22 A Yes, ma'am, a little bit. 23 MS. BELL: Now, Your Honor, in the 24 interest of time, I was going to skip towards the 25 end. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 96 1 THE COURT: Proceed. 2 MS. BELL: Thank you, Judge. 3 THE COURT: And what time mark are we 4 looking at? 5 MS. BELL: We started at 22 minutes 6 and 15 seconds. 7 Q (BY MS. BELL) And, Officer Rath, what had 8 caused him to slow down? 9 A From what I understand, he got his tires 10 spiked by the stop sticks. They spiked his tires 11 out on the freeway by the stop sticks or spike 12 strips, whichever they were using. 13 Q And so what we see right now is the 14 defendant, we saw him exit his car and he's fleeing? 15 A Yes, ma'am. 16 Q So Air One had eyes on him pretty much 17 from the beginning of this evading, all the way 18 until he got out of his car, that had been spiked, 19 and ran into this building here? 20 A Yes, ma'am. 21 Q I'm going to stop the video at 23 minutes 22 and 5 seconds. 23 MS. BELL: State passes the witness. 24 MR. BURNS: No questions for this 25 witness, Your Honor. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 97 1 THE COURT: So you say the helicopter 2 is on patrol in the air just ready to respond 3 routinely. 4 THE WITNESS: When we can. We try 5 to. That's what we like to do. We try to fly a 6 couple of hours, two to four hours a shift, just 7 flying around, so if something happens, monitoring 8 all five channels. And if we hear something, we'll 9 head that way whether at force or not and maybe 10 we'll be able to get something on video or help out. 11 THE COURT: Anything further from 12 either side based on the Court's questions? 13 MS. BELL: No, Judge. 14 MR. BURNS: No, Judge. 15 MS. BELL: May this witness be 16 excused? 17 MR. BURNS: Yes, Your Honor. 18 THE COURT: You may step down. 19 You're excused, sir. 20 MS. BELL: State will call Officer 21 Lukens. 22 THE COURT: Raise your right hand. 23 (Witness sworn) 24 THE WITNESS: Yes, Your Honor. 25 THE COURT: Have a seat, sir. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 98 1 BRIAN LUKENS, 2 having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 3 DIRECT EXAMINATION 4 BY MS. BELL: 5 Q Good morning, Officer Lukens. Would you 6 please spell your name for the court reporter. 7 A L-u-k-e-n-s. 8 Q Officer Lukens, how are you currently 9 employed? 10 A I'm employed with the Fort Worth Police 11 Department. 12 Q And how long have you been with the Fort 13 Worth Police Department? 14 A Been hired for over a year, commissioned 15 for nearly five months. 16 Q When did you go through the police 17 academy? 18 A January 23rd of last year through 19 September 15th. 20 Q And do you recall what you were doing 21 December 11th of 2017? 22 A Yes, ma'am. 23 Q What was that? 24 A I was, before this incident happened, 25 sitting down on 7th Street in the City of Fort Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 99 1 Worth. 2 Q And, at that time, did you have an FTO? 3 A Yes, I did, ma'am. 4 Q And what were y'all doing sitting at 5 7th Street? 6 A We were meeting with some other officers 7 talking about what we were going to do the rest of 8 the night. 9 Q And what happened next? 10 A We were sent a message over NBC that there 11 was a chase going on in the central division and 12 they want us west units -- 13 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, objection to 14 being outside the scope of the petition of the 15 evading. 16 THE COURT: Overruled. 17 A Sitting outside, we got a message out of 18 NBC from dispatch stating that there was a chase in 19 the central division that had been going on for, I 20 believe, somewhere around 20 to 25 minutes and that 21 they wanted some west units to try to get in 22 position and set up spike strips. 23 Q (BY MS. BELL) And what are -- explain to 24 me what spike strips are, like -- 25 A Spike strips are something that each -- Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 100 1 most of the vehicles, if not all the vehicles, have 2 in back of their patrol car that way you can get out 3 on the side of the road and throw them across the 4 road, and when a suspect vehicle drives by, they'll 5 flatten any tires that drive over those strips. 6 Q It reaches across multiple lanes of 7 traffic? 8 A It can reach across multiple lanes of 9 traffic. 10 Q And so y'all receive calls. So did you 11 and your FTO go out to try and place spike strips? 12 A Yes, we did. 13 Q Were y'all successful? 14 A No. We didn't get a chance to set out 15 spike strips. 16 Q And why was that? 17 A Because by the time we were getting on 30, 18 we were at 30 westbound to go set up spike strips. 19 They had turned onto 30 eastbound off the 820 loop. 20 Q Eventually, were officers successful in 21 spiking the car? 22 A I believe they did spike some tires on the 23 car. 24 Q And were other officers' cars spiked as 25 well? Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 101 1 A Yes, ma'am. 2 Q So tell me when you and your FTO entered 3 the pursuit? 4 A We were going westbound on I-30 to try to 5 meet them at the loop somewhere. We got -- we were 6 told that they had turned onto 30 eastbound, so we 7 turned around at 30 eastbound at Altamere. And 8 Altamere is kind of -- you can't really see the 9 highway too well during that time. So that time 10 they had passed us and got in front of us on 30 11 eastbound. And once they told us that, we tried to 12 catch up to him. 13 Q Were y'all successful? 14 A We eventually did catch up to him, yes. 15 Q And then what happened? 16 A As we caught up to him on the service road 17 just off of Montgomery and 30, we observed the 18 defendant running southbound from the officers with 19 two officers chasing him. 20 Q And what did you do? 21 A We went off the service road in our patrol 22 vehicle, and I chased him through -- a parallel of 23 the defendant -- through an opened parking lot and 24 then chased him into a parking garage where I cut 25 him off. He had ran on the passenger's side of my Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 102 1 patrol vehicle. Officer Hanberger (phonetic) is in 2 the passenger's seat and tackled him. And then I 3 came over and assisted Officer Hanberger (phonetic). 4 Q And in assisting him, would you say the 5 defendant was compliant? 6 A The defendant was very resistant and not 7 listening to verbal commands. 8 Q And during the course of y'all trying to 9 arrest him, did something happen that caused you 10 concern? 11 A Absolutely. I was on his torso and a 12 central officer came up to help. And so the central 13 officer took over his -- the defendant's right arm 14 while he was laying on his back. I took over his 15 left arm, controlling his left arm, I put it under 16 my right leg. And that time they said something 17 about a gun, and then he had a gun, so -- and he 18 wouldn't get his hand out of his right front pocket. 19 Q So which was in his right front pocket? 20 A His right hand. 21 Q So it came to your attention that his hand 22 was in a pocket where there was potentially a gun? 23 A Yes, ma'am. 24 Q What did you do in response to that? 25 A I had his left arm completely mobilized Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 103 1 with 220 pounds of my weight. So I withdrew my 2 service weapon from my holster and put it on his 3 chest and told the victim, You have a gun on your 4 chest. Think about what you're doing. 5 Q And did he become more compliant after 6 that? 7 A He did become more compliant. 8 Q Officer Lukens, after y'all finished 9 arresting him, was there in fact a gun in his 10 pocket? 11 A Yes, there was. 12 Q And do you recall what kind of gun it was? 13 A I recall it being a .32 caliber. 14 Q And do you remember if it was loaded or 15 unloaded? 16 A It was loaded. 17 Q Was it chambered or not? 18 A It was chambered. 19 Q So the defendant had a chambered pistol in 20 his right pocket that his hand was on when y'all 21 were attempting to arrest him? 22 A Yes, ma'am. 23 Q Officer Lukens, did we review dash cam 24 footage from your unit as well as body cam footage? 25 A Yes, ma'am. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 104 1 Q And would you say it fairly and accurately 2 represents what we just talked about? 3 A Yes, ma'am. 4 MS. BELL: Your Honor, may I approach 5 the witness? 6 THE COURT: You may. 7 Q (BY MS. BELL) Officer Lukens, this CD has 8 two videos; is that correct? 9 A Yes, ma'am. 10 Q It has a dash cam and it has a body cam? 11 A Yes, ma'am. 12 Q And how do you recognize this CD? 13 A I signed it and dated it. 14 MS. BELL: Your Honor, the State 15 would -- 16 Q (BY MS. BELL) And it's marked as State's 17 Exhibit 5? 18 A Yes. 19 MS. BELL: Your Honor, the State 20 would tender State's Exhibit 5 to defense. 21 (State's Exhibit 5 offered) 22 MR. BURNS: And for verification, 23 it's two videos, correct? 24 MS. BELL: Yes. 25 MR. BURNS: Then I object to both the Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 105 1 videos containing things outside the scope of the 2 petition. 3 THE COURT: Overruled. State's 5 is 4 admitted. 5 (State's Exhibit 5 admitted) 6 MS. BELL: Permission to publish, 7 Judge? 8 THE COURT: That's granted. 9 Q (BY MS. BELL) So, Officer Lukens, we're 10 going to look at your dash cam first. 11 MS. BELL: And, Your Honor, I'm going 12 to move it up a few minutes to when they pursue the 13 defendant, start it at 2:05. 14 (State's Exhibit 5 being 15 published in open court) 16 Q (BY MS. BELL) Now, you actually have the 17 defendant. Can you see his vehicle right now or are 18 y'all trying to get to where he's at? 19 A We're trying to get to him. I believe 20 we're on University right now. So 19 quite a ways 21 off ahead. We're turning westbound on I-30 and 22 University right now. 23 Q I'm going to fast forward to 8 minutes, 24 roughly. Is that the defendant that you can see? 25 A That is the defendant, yes, ma'am. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 106 1 Q I stopped the video at 9 minutes and 40 2 seconds. Now I'm going to play the dash cam 3 footage. What's happening right now? 4 A We're trying to detain the defendant. 5 Q So this kind of coincides right where we 6 stopped the dash cam? 7 A Yes, ma'am. 8 Q So after you had a gun to his chest, you 9 were able to detain him and cuff him? 10 A Yes, ma'am. 11 MS. BELL: Judge, unless you would 12 like to see the rest, I'll just pause the video at 1 13 minute and 35 seconds. 14 State will pass the witness. 15 MR. BURNS: Thank you, Your Honor. 16 CROSS-EXAMINATION 17 BY MR. BURNS: 18 Q Good morning, Officer Lukens. 19 A Good morning, sir. 20 Q Did you review all of the video related in 21 this case, or just your video before the trial 22 today -- or before the hearing? 23 A I reviewed some of -- a couple of 24 different videos. 25 Q Now, prior to, I guess, recovery of the Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 107 1 weapon, he did tell you guys that he had a gun; is 2 that correct? 3 A I don't remember exactly how that 4 happened, sir. 5 Q Okay. You don't recall another officer on 6 another video maybe saying, Well, he told us he had 7 a gun? 8 A I don't recall that. He may have. I 9 can't say yes or no. 10 MR. BURNS: Pass the witness, 11 Your Honor. 12 MS. BELL: No further questions. May 13 this witness be excused? 14 MR. BURNS: Yes, Your Honor. 15 THE COURT: You may step down. 16 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, at this time 17 the State would rest. 18 THE COURT: Defense? 19 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, as far as 20 adjudication is concerned -- well, I guess I need to 21 speak with him for a second. Okay. Sorry, 22 Your Honor. I just wanted to make sure my client 23 knew of his rights as far as testifying goes, but we 24 don't have anything to present as far as 25 adjudication, other than renewing our Motion to Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 108 1 Suppress. We do have two briefs. 2 THE COURT: So do you rest as to the 3 adjudication? 4 MR. BURNS: As for the evidence we're 5 going to present, yes, Your Honor. We'd still like 6 a ruling on the motion. 7 THE COURT: Okay. The motion's 8 denied. Do you close? 9 MS. KUCERA: We close, Your Honor. 10 THE COURT: Do you close? 11 MR. BURNS: We close, Your Honor. 12 THE COURT: Arguments? This is not a 13 unitary proceeding. There's a punishment phase, if 14 there is a punishment phase. 15 MS. KUCERA: Understood, Your Honor. 16 We would waive opening and reserve the right to 17 close. 18 MR. BURNS: We rest and close, 19 Your Honor. 20 THE COURT: All right. So you're not 21 going to argue as to the allegations? 22 MR. BURNS: As to the adjudication 23 phase, I don't think we have any argument as to 24 that. 25 MS. KUCERA: Very briefly, Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 109 1 Your Honor. I believe that the State has more than 2 met the burden that is required of them in a 3 revocation hearing. We believe that we have proven 4 the offenses that have been alleged in paragraphs 5 two, three, five, and seven. 6 Your Honor, the Court has heard from 7 six different witnesses in this case articulating 8 the entirety of all of these offenses, and we 9 believe the evidence is clear and unequivocal before 10 this court. We ask that you would find those 11 allegations to be true. 12 THE COURT: Mr. Hongpathoum, based on 13 the testimony that's presented today the Court finds 14 allegations two, three, five, and seven in each 15 petition to be true, finds that you violated the 16 terms and conditions of your probation, finds you 17 guilty of the offense of delivery of a controlled 18 substance one to four grams, namely, 19 methamphetamine, forgery by possession of a forged 20 writing, to wit, money, and theft of a firearm. 21 Anything further in the punishment 22 phase? 23 MS. KUCERA: Nothing further from the 24 State. 25 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, I have two Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 110 1 very brief witnesses. I'd like to ask the Court for 2 about two minutes to talk to them. 3 THE COURT: Okay. That's fine. 4 Ready? 5 MR. BURNS: Yes, Your Honor. 6 THE COURT: Okay. Does the State 7 have any evidence in punishment? 8 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, the State 9 would just reoffer everything that was offered in 10 the adjudication phase, and we would rest. 11 MS. BELL: Judge, may our witnesses 12 be excused? 13 MR. BURNS: Yes, Your Honor. 14 THE COURT: They're excused. 15 MR. BURNS: Thank you. Your Honor, 16 we'd like to call Susan Thorbrue. 17 THE COURT: Raise your right hand. 18 (Witness sworn) 19 THE WITNESS: Yes, ma'am. 20 THE COURT: Have a seat, ma'am. 21 MR. BURNS: Thank you, Your Honor. 22 SUSAN THORBRUE, 23 having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 24 25 Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 111 1 DIRECT EXAMINATION 2 BY MR. BURNS: 3 Q Good morning, Ms. Thorbrue. 4 A Good morning. 5 Q Could you just introduce yourself to the 6 Court and spell your name for the reporter, please. 7 A My name is Susan Hongpathoum, S-u-s-a-n, 8 H-o-n-g-p-a-t-h-o-u-m, Thorbrue, T-h-o-r-b-r-u-e. 9 Q And what is your relation to the 10 defendant? 11 A I'm Michael Hongpathoum's older sister. 12 Q And how long have you known Michael? 13 A His entire life. 14 Q And do y'all stay in pretty good touch? 15 A Yes. 16 Q During his probation period, has he had a 17 job? 18 A Yes. 19 Q What was he doing? 20 A He worked in a restaurant out in 21 Carollton. He worked for the -- one of our -- 19 a 22 Thai restaurant. 23 Q And was he taking care of business as far 24 as his fees and everything for the court? 25 A He was -- yes, he was -- as I know, he was Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 112 1 doing what he was supposed to be doing. 2 Q And what happened with that job? 3 A Well, basically, they were unfair with 4 his -- basically, they unfairly fired him. 5 MS. KUCERA: Your Honor, I'm going to 6 object. Calls for speculation. She's not the 7 employee. How can she testify to what they were 8 doing, the employers? 9 MR. BURNS: I can ask it a different 10 way, Your Honor. 11 THE COURT: Okay. Ask it a different 12 way. 13 Q (BY MR. BURNS) Now, that job ended up 14 falling through because of, we'll say a 15 disagreement; is that correct? 16 A He was wrongly let go. 17 Q Now, how would you -- just in general, how 18 would you describe Michael? 19 A Michael is a big for nothing, like he's 20 huge. He's a big guy for nothing. I protect him. 21 Q And what do you mean by that? 22 A A little, big sister. 23 Q What do you mean by big for nothing? 24 A Michael's not aggressive. He's a soft, 25 gentle, big guy. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 113 1 Q Do you think he would ever intentionally 2 hurt anybody? 3 A No. 4 Q And you understand he's facing up to 20 5 years, you understand that? 6 A Yes. 7 Q And he's definitely -- well, he's not 8 definitely, he's probably going to the penitentiary. 9 You understand that? 10 A Yes. 11 Q What is it that you would like to ask the 12 Court today? 13 A Michael -- Michael does need to be 14 incarcerated for what he's done but not for a long 15 time, not for being aggressive, for anything like 16 that. He knows he's done wrong. 17 Q Is he a good brother in your opinion? 18 A Yes. 19 Q Is he a good friend? 20 A Yes. 21 Q Does he try to take care of his family? 22 A Yes. 23 Q Like to see him home some day? 24 MR. BURNS: Pass the witness, 25 Your Honor. Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 114 1 MS. KUCERA: I have no questions of 2 this witness. 3 THE COURT: You may step down, ma'am. 4 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, I'd like to 5 call Phenam (phonetic) Hongpathoum to the stand, but 6 I may need Ms. Thorbrue to translate. 7 THE COURT: She's not a certified 8 translator and she's a witness in this case. And 9 without a translator that's certified, I can't allow 10 that. 11 MR. BURNS: Okay. We won't call her. 12 It would be mostly cumulative. 13 THE COURT: Do you rest? 14 MR. BURNS: Yes, Your Honor, we rest. 15 MS. KUCERA: Rest and close, 16 Your Honor. 17 THE COURT: Do you close? 18 MR. BURNS: We close, Your Honor. 19 THE COURT: Arguments? 20 MS. KUCERA: We waive open. 21 MR. BURNS: Your Honor, we'd just 22 like to ask the Court to take into account that 23 Mr. Hongpathoum is a young man. He's never been to 24 the penitentiary before so 19 going to be a tough 25 time on him, and he just wants to ask the Court that Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 115 1 he be given a sentence short enough that gives him a 2 chance that shows he can learn his lesson, he can 3 stay out of trouble. And he understands that he has 4 to pay a debt. But he just wants to ask the Court 5 that he has a sentence short enough to give him a 6 chance to prove he can be a citizen, a law-abiding 7 citizen. 8 MS. KUCERA: Briefly, Your Honor. 9 I think the Court has plenty of 10 evidence before it that demonstrates that 11 Mr. Hongpathoum's actions are extremely reckless. 12 He has no regard for the safety of the community, 13 and his actions, his driving that night, in the 14 first evading, 90 miles throughout the metroplex, 15 regardless of what questions the defense counsel 16 asked, 19 honestly, Your Honor, if you'd like to go 17 back and watch the dash cam, a mere miracle that an 18 accident wasn't caused that night. 19 The speeds in which they were 20 driving, the highways in which they were driving on 21 are not unpopulated. The actions of this defendant 22 are, like I said, in extreme disregard for the 23 safety of the community, the safety of the officers 24 who are pursuing him, even the safety of his own 25 person. I do not think the community is safe with Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 116 1 him in it. It's not as if this was a one-time 2 thing. You heard two separate accounts of an 3 evading that occurred over multiple miles, multiple 4 units. Both times Air One was called out. 5 Your Honor, this conduct is extremely 6 reckless, extremely dangerous. He deserves 7 absolutely no sympathy from this court. He has 8 demonstrated nothing here today in his opportunity 9 to do so, which should allow you to give him any 10 sympathy. He had a gun in his pocket. And he is 11 honestly lucky he was not killed. It is an 12 incredibly dangerous conduct that he is 13 participating in. And I think, Your Honor, you 14 would be well within your right to sentence him to 15 the maximum because that is absolutely what the 16 State is asking for in this case based on all of the 17 evidence that you have before you. 18 THE COURT: Defendant will rise. 19 Mr. Hongpahthoum, the Court has found 20 you guilty of the offenses of delivery of a 21 controlled substance one to four grams, namely 22 methamphetamine, theft of firearm, forgery by 23 possession of a forged writing, to wit, money. 24 Taking carefully into consideration 25 all the testimony and evidence that's been presented Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 117 1 to the Court, the Court will set your sentence in 2 these cases at 20 years confinement in the delivery 3 of a controlled substance case; 10 years confinement 4 in the forgery by possession of a forged writing, to 5 wit, money; and, 2 years confinement in the state 6 jail in the theft of firearm case. 7 It is the order, judgment, and decree 8 of this court that you be remanded by the sheriff of 9 Tarrant County to the director of the institutional 10 division to serve your sentence as required by law. 11 You have a right of appeal in these cases, which 12 I'll ask your counsel to stay on and explain to you. 13 If you cannot afford an attorney to prosecute your 14 appeal, an attorney will be provided to you by the 15 court. You have 30 days in which to file your 16 notice of appeal. You will be given credit for all 17 the time you've served in these cases. The 18 sentences in these cases will run concurrently. 19 It's hard for me to understand what 20 in the world you were thinking, if it was a game, if 21 you just had a fast car and you like to run, or if 22 you had something in the car you felt was so 23 important to conceal from the police that you 24 decided to run over and over from them. Also, your 25 possession of a firearm while on felony probation, Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 118 1 a -- one firearm that's stolen and another in your 2 pocket that you're reaching for while you're being 3 arrested, and you are very, very lucky to be alive. 4 I think that the police officers showed an admirable 5 and perhaps even full hearty amount of restraint in 6 not injuring you or shooting you outright when 7 you're reaching for a loaded gun in your pocket. 8 They gave you the gift of life, and I hope that you 9 will make the most of it, and I hope that you will 10 be ready to be a little bit more law-abiding when 11 you come out from the other end of these sentences. 12 Sheriff, he's your prisoner. 13 (Off the record at 12:14 p.m.) 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter 119 1 STATE OF TEXAS 2 COUNTY OF TARRANT 3 4 I, Norma Rico, Deputy Court Reporter in and for 5 the 371st District Court of Tarrant, State of Texas, 6 do hereby certify that the above and foregoing 7 contains a true and correct transcription of all 8 portions of evidence and other proceedings requested 9 in writing by counsel for the parties to be included 10 in this volume of the Reporter's Record in the 11 above-styled and numbered cause, all of which 12 occurred in open court or in chambers and were 13 reported by me. 14 I further certify that this Reporter's Record 15 of the proceedings truly and correctly reflects the 16 exhibits, if any, offered by the respective parties. 17 WITNESS MY OFFICIAL HAND on this, the 21st day 18 of May 2018. 19 20 21 Norma Rico, Texas CSR 8579 22 Deputy Court Reporter 371st District Court 23 Tarrant County, Texas PO Box 331883 24 Fort Worth, Texas 76163 Telephone: (682) 701-3739 25 Expiration: 12/31/2018 Norma Rico Certified Shorthand Reporter