Jury in Monfort trial sees dramatic patrol car video, hears from first responders

The trial of accused cop killer Christopher Monfort continued Tuesday in King County Superior Court with emotional testimony from a friend and fellow officer.

Seattle Police Sgt. George Davisson was in the passenger seat of his patrol car outside Garfield High School when the radio crackled with one of the most serious calls of his career.

“I had not been to an ‘officer down shots fired,’ ever,” Davisson said. It was around 10 p.m., midway through third watch on Halloween night 2009. Officer Timothy Brenton had been ambushed and shot. The dispatcher said the location was 29th and Yesler.

Soon the strained voice of Officer Britt Sweeney came over the radio. “Shots fired…My partner’s dead.” Later, “Help me.”

As part of the Field Training Officer program, Davisson was in the middle of teaching a new SPD officer. That rookie was behind the wheel when the call came in.

“It’s hard not to be the driver,” Davisson told a King County jury viewing video from his patrol car Tuesday. He said he chambered a round in his shotgun during the drive.

“I thought I was going to be going into a gun battle,” he said.

Davisson had known Brenton since his entry level days on the force, when Brenton was a more experienced lateral officer. They were both regulars on the evening shift.

“I’ve been to hundreds of homicide calls. When it’s somebody you work with it changes everything,” Davisson explained.

When he arrived on scene, Davisson checked briefly in with Sweeney, who was crouched behind a silver car with her gun drawn.

Talking to responding officers, Sweeney tried to explain what happened when she and her training instructor Brenton were ambushed after a routine traffic stop.

The driver of a small car had pulled up close to their vehicle and opened fire. Sweeney believed the shots grazed the back of her head. She had fired at the fleeing suspect but didn’t think she hit him. Davisson asked for a veteran officer to help Sweeney process what happened.

Then he ran to the patrol car to find his friend, Officer Brenton. At the passenger door, Davisson took in the fatal wounds.

“It was pretty horrific.” The longtime SPD vet choked up as he described the injuries to the right side of his friend’s face, neck, and jaw.

Davisson also noticed coffee spilled on Brenton’s arm from the cup he was holding when he was shot. “You have to push emotion aside […] It does nobody any good to lose it.”

Davisson stayed on scene, talking to a witness and marking shell casings. He negotiated with members of the Seattle Fire Department, trying to prevent them from shrouding Brenton’s car. An SPD supervisor finally allowed the car to be covered in a yellow and white sheet to protect the body from media or other viewers.

Davisson said he needed to stay with Brenton.

“It felt odd to leave him alone,” he admitted. “I wasn’t able to do anything for him, so at that point in time I felt it was kind of my obligation to take care of him.”

He was finally ordered away from the area, asked to drive a processional route ahead of the Medical Examiner. The police sergeant now believes his fellow officers intended to keep him from the scene while Brenton’s body was removed from the car.

Wrapping up questioning, the prosecuting attorney asked Davisson about his work training new officers. He was matter-of-fact.

“As you can see, even a veteran officer who had more time on than me was caught off guard. At the end of the day you can be ambushed. Be surprised,” said Davisson. “You can teach them to be safe but you can’t teach them to avoid everything.”

Christopher Monfort’s defense team has claimed he is not guilty by reason of insanity. He interrupted the proceedings of his murder trial once Tuesday, with a brief outburst about police brutality. As he was wheeled out of the courthouse, Monfort added, “Somebody’s got to fight for your rights.”