Cop testifies in attempted-murder trial of man who shot him in 2013

PHILADELPHIA Police Officer Edward Davies walked into court with a cane yesterday to testify about the 2013 shooting that cost him a kidney.

"I just heard a bang," Davies recalled from the witness stand. "I felt my chest get real hot and my stomach get real hot. And then I looked down and I got a hole in my shirt. And I remember saying, 'I've been hit.' "

The shooting took place in the Almonte Mini Market at 4th and Annsbury streets in Feltonville on Aug. 13, 2013.

Eric Torres, 33, is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault on Davies and three other responding officers, and possession with intent to distribute heroin. He also is charged with assault of a law-enforcement officer, which alone carries a mandatory 20-to-40-year sentence, said Assistant District Attorney Lou Tumolo.

In a courtroom packed with supporters, including his wife and FOP Lodge 5 president John McNesby, Davies testified about the events leading up to the shooting and about its aftermath.

"I went to the back of the store and I observed [two other officers] fighting with a male and screaming at him for him to show his hands," Davies said. The other officers had Torres on the floor.

As Tumolo lay facedown on the courtroom floor to demonstrate Torres' position to the jury, Assistant District Attorney Ed Jaramillo showed jurors how Davies had grabbed the suspect's left arm at the bicep.

"He was kicking and thrashing," Davies said while a surveillance tape of the incident was shown. He remembered pulling "with both hands . . . toward me." Then, he said, the gun fired.

In the surveillance video, Davies is seen walking to the front of the store and falling to his knees. Another officer rushed him to Temple University Hospital in a patrol car.

"Everything was just so hazy, like I was going in and out," Davies said. The other officer kept yelling, " 'Davies, keep your eyes open don't fall asleep,' " Davies told the jury.

Temple staff wheeled him into the operating room, where he recalled "them ripping my shirt off, my vest, my T-shirt, and then that's all I remember for about three weeks because they had me in a medically induced coma."

He remained at Temple for 37 days. He has had five operations, including removal of a kidney, with more procedures to come.

"I basically look like Frankenstein. I got scars from head to toe," Davies told the jurors. He couldn't walk for months and said "I got a 3-year-old at home that I can't pick up right now. I can't go out and play with him," adding that his life has "completely changed."

Other officers testified that even after the shooting Torres resisted arrest.

Officer Craig Van Sciver told the jury that as the handcuffed Torres was being removed from the store, "he leaned forward and bit me on the bicep."

Outside it took several officers to load Torres into the paddy wagon, according to Highway Patrol Officer Daniel Martinez.

Testimony is set to continue today.