Shot by cop, he is found not guilty on assault charges

A man accused of using a motorcycle to attempt to run over a controversial police officer was found not guilty of aggravated assault, possession of an instrument of crime and simple assault.

The jury did find John James, 20, guilty of recklessly endangering another person and fleeing an officer.

James, free on bail, will be sentenced Sept. 8.

His attorneys, James A. Funt and Ronald Greenblatt, challenged Officer Richard DeCoatsworth's credibility during the trial, which began last Friday.

Since joining the police force in 2007, DeCoatsworth, 25, has been praised as a hero for having survived a shotgun blast to the mouth as a rookie. In 2009, he was invited to sit next to first lady Michelle Obama during President Obama's first address to Congress.

But some have taken a dimmer view of DeCoatsworth, who shot another man in the back 4 1/2 months before shooting James.

The officer has also amassed nine Internal Affairs citizen complaints accusing him of assault, abuse and misconduct, according to Officer Tanya Little, a police spokeswoman

Just one of the complaints, when the officer was a cadet, was sustained, and he was cited for a departmental violation, Little said.

In that 2007 incident, DeCoatsworth allegedly shoved a 61-year-old man to the floor of a dry-cleaning store, causing him to hit his head, sources said.

During the trial, a forensic pathologist and three eyewitnesses testified that DeCoatsworth shot James in the leg from behind while the man drove a motorcycle down a Kensington sidewalk.

DeCoatsworth testified he fired while barely getting out of the way of the motorcycle as James drove it directly at him.

DeCoatsworth, at the time of James' shooting, was being investigated for shooting a Logan man in April 2009. He since has been cleared by the District Attorney's Office.

Last year, DeCoatsworth cost the city financially when Marc Lamont Hill, a Columbia University professor and now a Daily News columnist, received an out-of-court settlement after filing a federal lawsuit accusing DeCoatsworth of illegally searching him and his car.