Re: Trooper won't face charges in fatal shooting
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Trooper shooting witness sought
Mystery car likely stopped before incident
By Matthew Bruun TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
FITCHBURG- A civilian driver who was at the scene when Trooper Donald C. Gray shot Preston D. Johnson on Nov. 3, 2005, likely has knowledge to share about the events of that day. He had apparently been stopped by the trooper just minutes before the fatal shooting and was allowed to leave, but no record of his name or vehicle registration has been found by investigators.
The driver of the car that was stopped has never been identified, and his drinking companion who testified about what he saw that night claims no knowledge of the man's name or address. The passenger also said he wanted nothing to do with the case.
The passenger's account is part of the lengthy transcript of the closed-door inquest that was held in February in Clinton District Court. Judge Robert V. Greco found Trooper Gray's conduct that morning was wanton and reckless and amounted to criminal negligence, but a Worcester County grand jury did not indict him.
Trooper Gray testified he was in fear of his life during the encounter with Mr. Johnson, and said he was also fearful for Fitchburg police Officer Douglas Darton, at whom Mr. Johnson allegedly aimed his SUV moments before the shot was fired. Trooper Gray said Mr. Johnson had nearly pinned him against the witness's vehicle, a Toyota Camry, when the shot was fired, though Judge Greco discredited much of the trooper's account in making his own findings on the case.
Trooper Gray remains on duty in the Leominster barracks, but the state police will be reviewing all documentation from the investigation for an internal affairs review, spokeswoman Lt. Sharon Costine said yesterday.
Lt. Costine said the internal affairs review was standard procedure in a case such as this. She said there is no specified time limit for the inquiry.
Lawyer Stephen Hrones, representing Mr. Johnson's family, said the lengthy, sworn testimony included in the inquest transcript would be used in the lawsuit the family plans to file in federal court.
The driver of the car is a critical witness who could shed light on the whole case, Mr. Hrones said yesterday.
"The officer is claiming he was in harm's way because he was backed into that car," Mr. Hrones said. "If that car wasn't there, there's absolutely no argument he was in danger and he didn't have to shoot."
He said Trooper Gray "lost his cool" and fired his weapon without provocation.
The trooper's lawyer has maintained that Trooper Gray fired in self-defense, and called the grand jury's action a vindication. Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte issued a statement Tuesday saying the grand jurors "made the right decision" in finding there was not probable cause to believe Trooper Gray had committed a crime.
The judge's report and more than 600 pages of court transcripts were unsealed this week after the grand jury's report was filed in Superior Court.
Investigators were looking to the public for help in finding the driver of the mysterious Toyota Camry within days of the shooting. Investigators working for Mr. Hrones ultimately found Daniel Dingui, 40, a passenger in the car who testified he had five or six drinks before ending up near the intersection of Salem and Spruce streets in the early hours of Nov. 3.
Mr. Dingui testified through an interpreter in February that he was at the scene of the shooting, but could not identify the man who was driving the car in which he was a passenger.
Police canvassed the neighborhood for signs of the car referred to as the "witness vehicle" in the transcripts. From pieces of a damaged taillight recovered at the scene they were able to determine the vehicle was a 1987, 1988 or 1989 Toyota Camry.
Police found there were 46 blue and white Camrys from those years registered in Fitchburg. The driver has never been identified, according to the transcript.
Trooper Gray and Officer Darton both described a witness vehicle being at the scene of the shooting.
Mr. Dingui said he had been drinking at the Rock Bottom Café that night and was given a ride home. He told Assistant District Attorney Thomas E. Landry he did not know the name of the person who gave him a ride.
"I only know him by the face," Mr. Dingui said through an interpreter. "We just met, we had a beer, and then he offered a ride."
He said he had met the man on two or three other occasions.
"He told me his name once, but I forgot it," Mr. Dingui said. The man, he said, drove a blue Toyota Camry.
Mr. Dingui, whose own license to drive was suspended, said he was intoxicated at the time.
"I drink a lot when I drink," he told Mr. Landry, adding he had five or six drinks that night.
He denied much direct knowledge of the shooting.
"I heard a shot, but because it wasn't with me, I just left," Mr. Dingui testified. "I went. I went to sleep."
He said the car was passing a stop sign when he heard the shot.
Pressed for further details, Mr. Dingui said he purposely didn't want to see more.
"I only saw the police," he said. "I didn't really pay that much attention because I just said, 'Just keep going. I don't want to get involved with this.' "
He testified that he had seen the man one time after the shooting, but he did not discuss the incident with him.
"I don't like to talk about it," Mr. Dingui said.
He said he hadn't realized at the time it was a gunshot he heard.
"I thought it was like a tire that had burst or something like that," he said. "I didn't know it was a shot. It was only the next day that I found out, and I said, 'Oh, my God.' "
Lawyer Stephen Hrones, representing Mr. Johnson's family, asked Mr. Dingui if he could help locate the driver.
"Maybe I can see him around," Mr. Dingui said.
"If you see him around, will you find out his name?" Mr. Hrones asked.
"Well, if he's like me, he doesn't know," Mr. Dingui replied. "I mean, these are like street things that happen that you don't want to get involved, so I don't know."
Mr. Dingui said he had encountered a state trooper 10 to 15 minutes before the shooting.
"We were stopped before because the car didn't have the front license plate on the front part of the car, and I think that the red light was changing, so the police stopped us," Mr. Dingui testified.
Mr. Hrones asked if it was a trooper or city officer who stopped him.
"I really don't know, because I don't pay attention to things that are happening," Mr. Dingui replied. He then said he believed it was a state trooper.
Trooper Gray was called back to the witness stand to testify about that earlier encounter. He said he was stopped at a five-way intersection when he observed the traffic signal appeared to be malfunctioning.
He said he went through the intersection and saw what he described as a black, foreign sedan facing northwest. He noticed the car was lacking a front license plate and asked the car's driver to pull into a nearby gas station.
The driver was a Hispanic man in his 30s, with short hair, and was shorter than his front-seat passenger, whom Trooper Gray identified as Mr. Dingui. He asked the driver for identification.
"It was a Massachusetts learner's permit, but I don't recall the name or the address, just that it was a learner's permit," Trooper Gray testified. "I spoke with him at some point about you're not supposed to drive with only a learner's permit, and I tried to see if perhaps the passenger was duly licensed."
He said he spoke with Mr. Dingui, who appeared to have been drinking.
Trooper Gray said he wanted to send the men on their way if possible.
"I wanted to give the operator a break and not tow his vehicle," Trooper Gray testified. "He was in his 30s. At some point, I assumed he had had a license. He said he lived nearby."
He said he learned Mr. Dingui's license had been revoked. He did not run a check on the driver, he said, because the photo identification he produced appeared to match him.
Trooper Gray's next encounter with a motorist was Mr. Johnson.
Judge Greco asked Trooper Gray if he recognized the car that contained Mr. Dingui as the same car he saw later at the scene of the shooting.
"No, your honor, I didn't, and I haven't," he said. He earlier said he was "positive" the car was black, while Mr. Dingui said the vehicle he was riding in at the time of the shooting was light blue.
Trooper Gray and Officer Darton said the "witness vehicle" they saw at the scene of the shooting was white.
Mr. Hrones asked Trooper Gray if he had called in the vehicle's registration after the traffic stop that preceded his encounter with Mr. Johnson. The trooper said no.
Sondra Surrett of Hale Street said during the inquest that she had known Mr. Johnson "like all my life," and considered him like family. She said Mr. Dingui was the father of her children, and had called her at 5 a.m. Nov. 3. He had left the home earlier that day because of an argument, she said. In that call he indicated he had been in the vicinity of the shooting.
Ms. Surrett said Mr. Dingui said he was with a friend at the time.
"I don't know his friend," Ms. Surrett testified. "I don't socialize with his friends. That's what, that was the argument that, why I was having the argument."
He had left the house on foot, she said, because his driver's license was suspended.
"He told me that Preston got shot in his head, and he told me that Preston was dead," she testified. "That's what he told me."
Ms. Surrett said Mr. Dingui told her he had been headed toward the house on Hale Street when he saw Mr. Johnson driving down Salem Street.
"And then he said that he looked down, and that he heard one shoot, and that the state trooper was there," she said.
"Did he tell you whose car he was in?" Mr. Landry asked.
"No, he told me that he was with his friend," she replied.
Mr. Dingui also told her the trooper appeared to be the same man who had stopped him and his friend 10 minutes before on Laurel Street.