A Meriden Police Officer accused of police brutality is taking the stand in his own defense on Friday and said he did not mean to injure Pedro Temich when placing him in a holding cell on May 1, 2010.
"I didn't intend to injure him at all," Meriden Police Officer Evan Cossette said. "I thought he was going to step back a few steps. I was surprised when he fell."
Bill Dunlap, a law professor at Quinnipiac University with no ties to the case, said on Thursday that hearing what Cossette was thinking is extremely important. The prosecution says Cossette used unreasonable force against Temich when placing him in the holding cell, then falsified a police report to cover it up.
“Usually it's because they want to tell their own story. They're going to have a different point of view. They're going to be able to explain what they were thinking at the time,” Dunlap said. “The prosecution has to prove intent. They have to prove that not only these events happened, but they have to prove that Officer Cossette intended or fully understood what was going on.”
Cossette testified on Friday that he felt threatened by Temich.
"He tightened up his body; he dropped his head, and I thought he was coming at me," Cossette said.
There is a risk to Cossette taking the stand.
Defendants aren't required to testify and many don't because of the cross-examination.
“It's very easy in many cases, for a prosecutor to pull apart details of a defendant's story, and if you start pulling apart little details, may be the whole thing falls apart in the eyes of the jury,” said Dunlap.