VALLEJO – A man who was shot by a Vallejo police officer in June was unlikely to be able to see and react to the officer in the moments before he was shot and appeared to have already decided to drive away before the officer got in the way of his car, a forensic expert testified in Solano County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Jason Fries, the CEO and lead forensic expert of 3D Forensic Inc., said that Jamazea Kittell had no time to react to Officer Brad Kim in the time he could have seen Kim and driven away.
Fries was contracted by the Solano County Public Defender’s Office to study video of the shooting and reconstruct the scene before Kittell’s preliminary hearing, which will determine whether there is sufficient evidence for Kittell to stand trial for attempting to murder Kim.
Solano County Superior Court Judge Robert Bowers did not rule on whether Kittell would stand trial for attempted murder on Tuesday, delaying his decision another week. Kittell, who appeared in court chained and in a wheelchair, remains in custody pending Bowers’ decision. He is also facing charges of burglary and two counts of vehicle theft.
Fries said that his testimony did not specifically contradict testimony by Kim on Sept. 19 that he “locked eyes” with Kittell before Kittell drove forward, but he said that while Kim could likely see Kittell’s face clearly, Kittell was likely blinded by the bright lights of Kim’s headlights and overhead lights.
Kittell “is seeing eight high powered lights in his eyes,” Fries said. “His ability to see anything other than that is extremely limited.”
Kim was one of several Vallejo police officers who responded to the Grand gas station at 1401 Springs Road at about 4 a.m. on June 27 after the station owner reported a burglary in progress.
Kim testified that as he arrived he saw a driver get into a parked Dodge Charger as others ran from the gas station. He said that he intended to block the Charger using his patrol car, but he had to slam on his brakes about 6 feet short of the Charger when someone ran in front of his car.
Dash camera video from Officer Jaleesa Bradshaw shows Kim run from his car toward the Charger with his gun drawn, then stand in front of it while crossing from the passenger side to the driver’s side with his gun pointed at the windshield.
Kim said that he was attempting to get to the driver’s door to potentially pull the driver out and arrest him. As he was moving in front of the car, he said he saw the driver, who was hooded and wearing a mask. Kim said that he was “pretty sure that we locked eyes for a second.”
He said that as he approached the driver’s side front corner of the car, he felt it lunge toward him while going left, so he fired at the driver through the windshield. Kim was pushed onto the hood of the car and then fell to the ground as the Charger drove around him, then crashed into a gas meter across the street. Kittell got out of the car and fell to the ground, bleeding from the face, where Kim and Bradshaw arrested him.
But gas station surveillance video shown during court on Tuesday indicated that Kittell had already turned his wheels to the left while Kim was still to the right of the car and several feet away from it, which Fries said indicated he had already decided on a route of escape.
That was only a second after Kim had arrived, which Fries said gave Kittell no time to react to Kim and if anything he was attempting to move away from him.
“There is absolutely no evidence that Mr. Kittell is responding to Officer Kim in any way, shape or form,” Fries said. In fact, Fries testified, if Kim had not moved away from his patrol car when he arrived at the scene, it’s likely the Charger would have taken the same trajectory out of the gas station.
Under cross examination from Deputy District Attorney Kevin Tali, Fries said that his firm was paid up to $15,000 for the investigation and analysis, and that he has worked with both district attorney’s offices and public defender’s offices across California.
Fries acknowledged that reaction times can vary from person to person, but said it wasn’t relevant in Kittell’s case.
“Everything is happening so quickly, it doesn’t matter if Mr. Kittell is on the bleeding edge of reaction time, there simply isn’t enough time,” Fries said.
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