Defense Attorney Says West Phila. Man, Charged With Assaulting Cop, Is Blind
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Before jurors can determine if defendant Darrell Holloway is guilty or not, they'll have to determine if he's blind.
Testimony is underway in the trial of the man whom the defense says it blind, charged with assaulting and beating a police officer during a pedestrian stop in West Philadelphia last year.
Officer Anthony Lazzaro testified that defendant Holloway attacked him -- shoved him, then got into a boxer's stance -- and they then battled, punching and grabbing each other for several minutes.
And when other arriving officers pulled Holloway away, Officer Lazzaro says, Holloway broke free, ran several steps toward him and started attacking him again, never giving any indication he was blind.
But defense attorney Kevin Mincey says Holloway, sitting in court today with his cane, is completely blind and the charges against him are ridiculous (see previous story).
But Officer Lazzaro has indicated that Holloway is now faking. The officer says he has seen Holloway in the neighborhood since the alleged assault, texting and walking unassisted.
But Mincey, the defense attorney, says Holloway was blinded by a shooting in 2007, leaving him with one prosthetic eye and bullet fragments in the remaining eye.
Mincey played some cell phone audio from that riotous night in which a voice can be heard screaming repeatedly, "He's blind!"
Both men were bloodied and beaten that night, but Mincey says it wasn't a fair fight and the verdict should be "not guilty."
