Day 2 in the Sammy Galvan Wrongful Death Trial

Day 2 in the Sammy Galvan Wrongful Death Trial
By Mike Rhodes

Today’s testimony started with Yesenia Perez, Sammy Galvan’s girlfriend. Perez was with Galvan when he was shot to death by Modesto Police officers Lyndon Yates and Mirl Morse. Perez said that she and Sammy had fought on the night he was killed. She testified that shortly before his death, Sammy was in bed in the cottage behind his parents home.

Yesenia was at the foot of the bed, thinking about the argument they had when she heard a gate open and footsteps. “When I saw the figures I knew it was the police,” she said. The officers were standing outside the cottage door and shining a flashlight into the room. Yesenia said they did not identify themselves as Modesto Police officers. She said “Sammy was still laying in bed. He stood up and stood by the foot of the bed, facing the door at a slight angle.”

According to Perez, Sammy had a knife in his left hand. She was asked by Modesto Deputy City Attorney James Wilson if she asked him to drop the knife. “Yes, but he did not have time to,” Perez said. Wilson asked what Galvan was doing. She answered “he was just standing there” and that he did not have time to say anything to the officers. She then described the eight shots that were fired saying she could see the “red bullets flying by, then I saw Sammy laying on the ground with his hands shaking. I saw him on the floor bleeding.” Yesenia also said that one of the officers was inside the cottage at the time of the shooting - an allegation that if true could prove problematic for the City of Modesto and the police.

The afternoon session started with testimony by Ramon Galvan, Sammy’s father. In previous testimony, Susan Galvan (Sammy Galvan’s mother) said she had called the police and asked them to respond to a domestic dispute between Yesenia and Sammy. Ramon and Susan wanted Yesenia to leave. After officers arrived at the main house, Ramon let them in the back gate which led to Sammy’s cottage. There was no noise coming from the cottage at this time (about 1 AM on August 22, 2004.

Ramon was told not to come into the back yard by the officers. “They told me they would take care of it,” Ramon said. Ramon went to retrieve his dogs that had gotten loose when the gate was opened. “I heard shots and I returned to the back yard,” but he was told to go back to the front yard by officers. He was in the front yard when he says officers “rushed me. They grabbed my wrists and knocked me to the ground.” He says the officers put handcuffs on him, had him in a headlock, put a knee in his back when he was on the ground, and that they were laughing at him. When they picked him up off the ground he said he heard “something crack” in his arm. “They were having a field day with me,” Ramon said. Ramon’s arm was broken in this incident.

Officer Lyndon Yates has been with the Modesto Police Department for about 3 ½ years. He was the lead officer and the first to arrive at Sammy Galvan’s cottage door. Walter Riley, one of the attorney’s representing the Galvan family, asked Yates why he had refused to give a statement on the shooting to either the Modesto Police Internal Affairs Department or to Detective Blake, who was investigating the shooting for the Modesto PD. Yates said he refused to cooperate in the investigation on the advise of his legal counsel. He said “it was under advisement by my attorney not to give a statement.”

Yates said he was standing outside the cottage door when he shined his flashlight into Sammy Galvan’s cottage. “When the light hit him he lifted his head, sat up, and swung his legs to the right. As soon as I saw him sitting on the bed I could see he had a knife in his hand,” Yates said

Yates said that when Sammy stood up he assumed a “boxer’s stance” with his right leg forward and left leg back. Yates said Sammy had a knife in each hand. “As soon as I recognized the deadly weapons I shouted out ‘man with a knife.’ I told him to drop the knives,” Yates said. According to Yates, Sammy Galvan said “shoot me mother fucker, shoot me.”

Yates will continue his testimony on Wednesday.