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When Pannell took off, he brushed past Spath, who reached out and
nearly had the kid. “If only I had grabbed his jacket,” he confided. “I
thought I had a piece of it for a split-second. If I get that coat, the chase
never ensues.”
But the chase went off, and enough bystanders saw it that there were
several who provided accounts of what they thought they saw. Several,
including one described in a newspaper report as “drunk,” said they saw
Pannell with his hands raised in the air and his back to Spath. The case
against Spath was built almost solely on such a premise.
Teaneck Sergeant Phil Lavigne, who patrolled the beat where the
school was located, followed Spath and Blanco to the call. He described
the scene as hectic and added that, “people were jumping on people’s
backs, trying to get the gun away, to show there was no gun. Everybody
wanted to know if the gun was real. After the shooting, Wayne had the
gun. It was real.”
Protests ensued over a white cop shooting a