Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Witness Evidence Retrieval topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bystander testifies he retrieved a phone from Chick‑fil‑A parking lot and turned it over to officers
Summary
A witness told the jury he saw a shiny object tumble from a car after a loud bang, retrieved the item wrapped in a towel and handed it to officers at the Chick‑fil‑A scene; the photograph and map he prepared were admitted without objection.
A man who said he was in the Chick‑fil‑A parking lot on April 23, 2017 testified that he saw what looked like a phone tumble from a vehicle and that he picked it up, wrapped it in a towel and later gave it to police.
Gabriel Baez testified that after hearing a loud bang he saw a car speed through the lot and noticed “what looked like a phone, something shiny, square, kinda tumbling and hitting the ground.” He said he retrieved a towel, picked up the phone and kept it in his possession until officers arrived.
Baez identified a photo of himself holding the towel and phone and a hand‑drawn map marking where he said he found the object and where he and his family had parked. The state offered and the court admitted those exhibits without objection.
Dan Akin, the Chick‑fil‑A operator, confirmed he provided surveillance video to police and that his store’s recordings were used by investigators; those recordings later showed the vehicle’s path and were published for the jury.
The witness’ account supplied a possible location of an item that detectives later documented as evidence; Baez said he turned the item over to officers at the scene when they arrived.
