he was indicted for a criminal offense, manslaughter. reporter: witnesses say the teen had his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender at the time of the shooting. thelma: it s proven evidence. he surrendered. that s murder. he just shot him when he gave up. paul: listen, this was a tragedy, but phillip was a kid who had a gun who shouldn t ve had a gun. gervonn: it just didn t fit the narrative of a young boy that grew up in this community. i mean, this was teaneck. walter: to me, the facts in the case are so obvious, at least in this instance. we re going to get justice (music) reporter: we reported this morning defense lawyer robert galantucci surprised everyone in the courtroom, especially the prosecution team, by calling the defendant himself to the stand. let s go to the courtroom now live, where gary spath is testifying in his own behalf. mike: we didn t know that gary spath would testify as the trial began. there was some concern on the part of spath s defense atto
courtroom for the trial of new jersey versus police officer gary spath. mike: it is extremely rare for police officers to be put on trial. this was a police officer who claimed he was doing his duty. and in the course of doing his duty, he was indicted for a criminal offense, manslaughter. reporter: witnesses say the teen had his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender at the time of the shooting. thelma: it s proven evidence. he surrendered. that s murder. he just shot him when he gave up. paul: listen, this was a tragedy, but phillip was a kid who had a gun who shouldn t ve had a gun. gervonn: it just didn t fit the narrative of a young boy that grew up in this community. i mean, this was teaneck. walter: to me, the facts in the case are so obvious, at least in this instance. we re going to get justice (music) reporter: we reported this morning defense lawyer robert galantucci surprised everyone in the courtroom, especially the prosecution team, by calling the defendant
and i m gonna address theunited states of america. gary: there s no doubt that night. it was a textbook procedure. i had no choice. i was forced to take a life. i was a white cop whoshot a black 16-year-old. (protestors chanting) natacha: i would like toaddress all law enforcement across the country and around the world. honor the oath. (dramatic music) gary: the other officerskept repeating: he did the right thing.he had no choice. it was a good shoot. reporter: the death ofphillip pannell brought rage the streets of normallypeaceful teaneck, new jersey. m2: this was middle-classmodel city, american. alison: we live in teaneck.this doesn t happen in teaneck. w2: it wasn t the utopia ithought it was for many people. (dramatic music) thelma: we enduredthis pain for 30 years, now we re back here again. crowd: yeah, (music) natacha: on my honor,i will never betray my integrity forthe public trust. m3: the fact of the matter isphillip pannell was executed. m4: i don t care how
Want this to be a divisive statement. i wanted this to be a uniting statement. so i m opposed to any of the names. gervonn: they didn t want the names. they didn t want phillip pannell s name on there, as if such a history would put a tarnish on teaneck s image. and then somebody just jumped up and said, well, let s rename a street after it. michael: one thing we can do to take another step in the right direction is possibly rename a prominent street called black lives matter way. gervonn: but that s not what people asked for. so that was like an appeasement. has there been- have there been 3000 members that wrote a petition that requested that? jim: councilwoman rice, i don t think you re understanding. i did not say. why are you smiling? you think you made a point? we can do other things. gervonn: i kind of remember stepping back at that point. for us, it was just so personal.
Natacha: we presented a design to them and it had my brother s name in the middle of one of the letters, and they was like, oh no, we re opposed of this because it has full pannell s name on it. when we asked them why, and they said that there are people to this day who are on the opposing side that believes that, you know, spath was justified. jim: one of the things that we were concerned about was an emphasis on names because we wanted something that we felt would bring together the township. elie: i think that there are a lot of people in this community that still feel the divisions, and i did not want this to be a divisive statement. i wanted this to be a uniting statement. so i m opposed to any of the names. gervonn: they didn t want the names. they didn t want phillip pannell s name on there, as if such a history would put a tarnish on teaneck s image. and then somebody just jumped up and said, well, let s rename a street after it. michael: one thing we can do to take another