The Witness (Badge of Honor 4)

53. Q. How about Lieutenant Suffern?

A. I don’t know. I don’t believe so.

54. Q. Go on.

A. Where were we?

55. Q. You and Mr. O’Hara were in the alley, you said. You said you detected movement.

A. Okay. I realized that what I was seeing was a man coming in my direction. So I called to him to stop.

56. Q. Did you identify yourself as a police officer?

A. I said, Stop. Police officer.

57. Q. At this time, did you recognize the person in the alley as Mr. Charles D. Stevens?

A. No.

58. Q. Had you, previous to this occasion, ever seen Mr. Charles D. Stevens?

A. No.

59. Q. Had you ever seen a photograph of Mr. Stevens and/or were you familiar with his description?

A. No.

60. Q. Then you did not recognize the individual coming toward you as Mr. Stevens?

A. No. But it didn’t matter. It was too dark. All I saw was somebody coming down the alley.

61. Q. But you shot at him. Why did you shoot at him?

A. Because he had shot at me, because he had shot me. Jesus Christ!

62. Q. (Captain Quaire) Take it easy, Payne.

A. Yes, sir. Sorry.

63. Q. (Detective Kramer) Did you see any weapon in Mr. Stevens’s hand?

A. Not until he was down.

64. Q. How did you know he, Stevens, was shooting at you?

A. He was the only one in the alley. I didn’t know who it was until later. I saw flashes. I was hit.

65. Q. What was the response of the individual you now know to be Charles David Stevens to your order, Stop. Police officer?

A. He screamed, Get out of my way, motherfucker.

66. Q. Those precise words?

A. That’s a direct quote. For some reason, I remember it very clearly.

67. Q. (Captain Quaire) Payne, spare us the sarcasm.

A. Yes, sir.