Ron Peterson was a great witness...calm, composed...said all the rightthings when Swarth, the defense attorney, tried to corner him on cross exam. The presentationof the pictures of his injuries and the blood on the back of Thompson'scar was powerful stuff. They even brought in Ron's broken SpecializedTarmac. The damn head tube and fork were completely split off from thetop tube and down tube!
When pressed by Swarth on still being furious about the incidentand the injuries he suffered, Peterson calmly testified, "I just wantjustice, that's why I'm here."
On direct exam on Monday, Officer Rodriguez said that when he heardThompson say, "I wanted to teach them a lesson," he stoppedinvestigating it as an accidental traffic collision and called foranother patrol unit to investigate it as assault with a deadly weapon.
Tuesday on cross examination, Swarth was trying to establish thatOfficer Rodriguez basically did a crappy investigation and jumped tothe conclusion that it was an intentional and deliberate act on thepart of Thompson based solely on his statement, "I wanted to teach thema lesson." Rodriguez is a veteran police officer and former Marine, sohe wasn't cracking and repeated that it wasn't up to him to follow upand ask what Thompson meant by that statement because it was notprotocol. Another investigator would have to do that follow up.
Two doctors also testified yesterday. One who was actually at thescene going home and stopped to help. The other doctor was a plasticsurgeon who assessed Ron Peterson's injuries a few days after theincident. Not only did Peterson suffer lacerations to the face, but healso had a broken nose as well as internal fractures to his nasalpassage. Apparently, he still can't feel his nose.