Jacobs Denies Using Slurs in Confronting Sagon Penn

Police Agent Donovan Jacobs, in the second day of his testimony in the retrial of Sagon Penn, said Thursday that using racial slurs or excessive force in police work is completely “out of line” with his character.

Contradicting the testimony of numerous other witnesses in Penn’s first trial, Jacobs denied that he called Penn a “nigger” and used other racial slurs during their scuffle on March 31, 1985, and said he only struck Penn to “effect an arrest” after Penn attacked Police Agent Thomas Riggs.

Jacobs also insisted, when questioned about other incidents, that he never told a youth, “Get your black ass over here,” threatened to kill a black heroin addict or shoved a motorcyclist against an embankment and called him “a little punk.”

“I would never say or do anything like that,” Jacobs testified under questioning by defense attorney Milton Silverman. Using racial slurs would “antagonize” people, the officer said, and is something inconsistent with his approach to the job.

Jacobs’ character is a central issue in Penn’s retrial, as the defense is attempting to prove that it was the officer’s conduct that triggered the 1985 altercation in Encanto that left Police Agent Thomas Riggs dead and Jacobs and a civilian observer, Sarah Pina-Ruiz, wounded. Silverman argues that a “racist” Jacobs attacked Penn like a “Doberman pinscher,” prompting Penn to seize the officer’s weapon and fire in self-defense.

In June, Penn was found innocent of murder and some of the other major charges in connection with the shootings, which damaged relations between police and the black community. The jury deadlocked--leaning in favor of acquittal--on five additional charges, ranging from assault to attempted murder, and Penn is being retried on those charges. The trial before Superior Court Judge J. Morgan Lester is expected to last several months.

In his lengthy questioning of Jacobs on Thursday, Silverman sought to identify inconsistencies in the officer’s various accounts of the events of two years ago, a strategy that appeared to frequently exasperate the officer. In particular, the defense attorney pointed out a shift in Jacobs’ testimony regarding the reason he stopped Penn’s pickup truck.

During the last trial, Jacobs testified that he pursued Penn because Penn had made an illegal U-turn in front of him, causing the officer to slow down. Testimony from other witnesses indicated such a turn was never made, and a test showed that the turning radius on Penn’s truck made such a maneuver impossible on 65th Street, where Jacobs said it occurred.

On Wednesday, Jacobs mentioned the U-turn but said he stopped the truck because he believed it contained an armed member of a black youth gang who was involved in a crime committed elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Jacobs’ other testimony Thursday appeared to be consistent with court statements he made 11 months ago. Although other witnesses have said Jacobs instigated the attack on Penn after Penn refused to remove his driver’s license from his wallet, the officer repeated his recollection that he only became involved in the fracas to aid Riggs, who was under assault from Penn.

As in the first trial, Jacobs denied allegations made by eyewitnesses that he told Penn, “You think you’re bad, nigger, I’m gonna beat your black ass,” and sparked the fight by grabbing Penn and punching him.

“That is something so out of line with my character that I can say without a doubt that I would never do it,” Jacobs said emphatically.

In an effort to raise questions about Jacobs’ prior behavior toward blacks, Silverman cited confrontations the officer has had with others. Among those was Edward Serdi, who said he was riding his motorcycle to work in 1982 when he was pulled over by Jacobs and another officer for shouting at the officers, who had cut in front of him. Serdi, who said he was pushed up against an embankment by Jacbos, filed a complaint against Jacobs that was not sustained.

Jacobs replied no, but did describe Serdi as someone “way out in left field” and “a small person with a personality that is not very nice.”

Silverman will continue his cross-examination of Jacobs today.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Carpenter, who argues that the officer acted properly during his encounter with Penn and that Penn sparked the scuffle by refusing to hand over his driver’s license, is expected to call Pina-Ruiz as his next witness.