ST. PETERSBURG - Attorneys for the survivors of TyRon Lewis wrapped up their case Wednesday, presenting the 18-year-old man as a caring father who liked to fish and talk about basketball, though he never met his son.
They also presented an expert who said Jim Knight, the police officer who fatally shot Lewis, acted improperly.
But the city's lawyer, William Drake, challenged the testimony at every turn, suggesting Lewis did not have a close relationship with his mother or young son and that the expert got an advanced degree from a distance learning school, a "diploma mill."
The third day of the trial turned contentious as Lewis' mother and girlfriend tried to put the best face on Lewis' life. His 8-year-old son, TyRon Lewis II, even stood in the courtroom for an introduction.
"The funeral - that was the worst funeral of my life," Lewis' mother, Pamela, told six jurors hearing evidence in the family's wrongful death lawsuit against the city.
Today, the city will present its witnesses in the shooting, which sparked two nights of civil disturbances in 1996. Knight and his partner, Officer Sandra Minor, are white; Lewis was black.
Knight and Minor stopped Lewis for speeding at the intersection of 16th Street and 18th Avenue S on Oct. 24, 1996. They said Lewis and his passenger refused to unlock their doors, roll down their windows or shut off the engine.
Knight drew his gun and stood in front of the car Lewis was driving. Knight said the car lurched forward six times, eventually knocking him onto the hood. He fired three times, killing Lewis.
On Wednesday, Lewis' mother described her son as a happy child who got with the wrong crowd as a teen, didn't stay in school and bounced between juvenile detention centers.
Jurors did not hear about Lewis' criminal history, that he began a life of crime at age 9 or that at the time of his death, he had a felony warrant out for his arrest and 1.8 grams of cocaine in his pocket.
"I haven't gotten over TyRon," Pamela Lewis said. "I never will. That was my baby."
But Drake said Lewis did not live with his mother and that he spent time in a foster home. She said he gave her money, but she could not tell jurors how much.
Latoya White, the mother of Lewis' son, also testified. TyRon Lewis II was born 17 months before the shooting. Lewis never met him and didn't give her money. But, White said, Lewis cared.
Michael Cosgrove, a former assistant police chief in Miami and the Lewis family's expert on police use of force, told jurors Knight was reckless, that he should not have stood in front of the car.
Cosgrove cited St. Petersburg's firearms policy, which says officers should not shoot at moving cars "unless other reasonable means to avoid the danger have failed ..."
Drake cited six incidents when Cosgrove fired his gun as a Miami officer. Cosgrove shot at a man who was hitting an officer over the head with a bottle or can of beer.
