19 HERB CLINE 20 after having been duly sworn to tell the truth, the whole 21 truth, and nothing but the truth, testified as follows: 22 DIRECT EXAMINATION 23 THE COURT: Go ahead. 24 BY MR. CORGAN: 25 Q State your name, please, sir. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
249 1 A Herb dine. 2 Q Mr. Cline, what is your business, profession, or 3 occupation? 4 A I'm a police officer for the city of Bartlesville. 5 Q How long have you been employed in that capacity? 6 A Since 1981. 7 Q Do you hold any type of rank? 8 A Just senior patrolman. 9 Q And could you tell me, Officer Cline, if you were 10 employed and working on June the 11th of 1990? 11 A Yes, sir, I was. 12 Q What shift did you work on that day? 13 A Worked Charlie shift which is hours between 2:00 p.m. 14 and 10:00 p.m. 15 Q And do you have a particular call number? 16 A Charlie 7. 17 Q And is that something you keep all the time? 18 A Yes, sir. 19 Q I guess as long as you're on Charlie shift? 20 A Correct. If I went to day shift, it would be Adam -- 21 or night shift, it would be Adam 7; day shift would be 22 Baker 7. 23 Q But as far as the 7, that's always in regard to you. 24 A That designates me, yes, sir. 25 Q Now, did you have occasion to get involved in this DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
250 1 case? 2 A Yes, sir, I did. 3 Q So you were working that evening? 4 A Yes, sir. 5 Q How did you get involved? 6 A I was working a traffic accident in 700 block of 7 Osage at the time that the call occurred that we were told 8 that there was a burglary with a possible suspect leaving 9 the scene. 10 I continued helping the officer work his 11 accident, at which time Lieutenant Davis contacted me and 12 advised me to come out to the scene and assist in the 13 search of the area. 14 Q And did you do that? 15 A Yes, sir. 16 Q And where did you go, and what did you do? 17 A From what I understood on the radio, the suspect was 18 supposedly a black male and that he had run south from the 19 residence. 20 I knew myself that at Lincoln Road and Jefferson 21 on the southeast corner, there's a large field there. 22 And it's very overgrown and brushy, and I 23 figured -- thought to myself that would be a good place to 24 go if you were trying to hide from someone or if you'd run 25 from someone. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
251 1 I left. I went directly to the intersection of 2 Lincoln and Jefferson, got out of my car, and started into 3 the woods. 4 Q Now, when you did this, were you alone or with 5 someone? 6 A I was by myself. 7 Q Now, as you were out there by yourself, is there any 8 way for you to maintain contact with either dispatch or 9 other officers? 10 A By radio, yes, sir. 11 Q And how is that? 12 A Have a walkie-talkie with me at all times. 13 Q Do you have something like that with you today? 14 A Yes, sir. 15 Q And that's a way you can keep in contact? 16 A Yes, sir. 17 Q So what did you do once you got to into the field? 18 A I started to go into the field and look around 19 checking bushes, shrubs, the whole -- as much of the field 20 as I could do by myself. 21 And I overheard another call that there was a 22 possible black male walking on Wayside, near Wayside 23 School. 24 Q Now, where in relation to your location would this 25 other call have been? DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
252 1 A It would be to the south of the location I was at. 2 Q How far would you say? 3 A Between a quarter and half mile. 4 Q When you received that information, what did you do? 5 A I ran back to my car, got in, and went -- started 6 down on Jefferson, went south towards Wayside Drive in an 7 attempt to intercept whoever this person was. 8 Q And were you successful in doing that? 9 A Yes, sir. 10 Q And what happened at that point? 11 A Got to -- I arrived at Wayside and turned and went 12 east because it's -- it dead ends there, both streets; and 13 you have the school to the west of that intersection. 14 I started east on Wayside and observed a black 15 male with light-colored clothing walking west on Wayside. 16 Q What did you do at that time? 17 A At that time, I stepped out of the car and advised 18 him he needed to place himself on the ground until I could 19 get to a point to where I could come up and search him. 20 Q And did he do that? 21 A Yes, sir. 22 Q And what did you do at that time? 23 A I waited for the arrival of another backup officer, 24 which happened to be Chief Holland. 25 He showed up and watched the subject while I DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
253 1 walked up and patted him down, did a cursory search of his 2 person. 3 Q What did you determine as a result of that search and 4 patdown? 5 A After we got the man up, he was a little shaken due 6 to the contact from us. 7 I spoke with him for a minute and found that he 8 was not from this country. 9 Q Now, how did you determine that? 10 A Well, from language. I could barely understand his 11 English. 12 I spoke with him for a minute, asked him if he'd 13 been in the area; and he said he was out for a walk. 14 He was very clean, not sweating. He hadn't been 15 running. He didn't appear to be excited, other than the 16 police had contacted him. And we were not real pleasant 17 when we contacted him. 18 Q Now, what do you mean you weren't real pleasant? 19 A Well, from what I understand on the description, we 20 had a black male suspect; and this man was treated as such 21 just for our protection. 22 Q Now, did you exclude him then as a suspect? 23 A After I spoke with him, we didn't exclude him as a 24 suspect; but we did take his information. 25 We didn't feel strong enough that he was enough DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
254 1 of a suspect to take into custody. 2 Q And what do you mean "we"? 3 A Myself and Chief Holland and Officer Remington 4 arrived at the scene Shortly after that. 5 Q What was done in regard to this individual? 6 A Basically just his actions, his appearance. He 7 had -- you know, he was not excited. He was not out of 8 breath. 9 He had not been sweating, and it was a very warm 10 night that night. 11 Nothing about him gave me the impression that he 12 had done anything other than that the police had excited 13 him when we stopped him. 14 Q Do you know what happened to him after your contact 15 with him? 16 A After I contacted him, I advised Officer Remington 17 that he needed to fill out what's called a field 18 interrogation card showing that we did make contact with 19 this person and had spoken with him. 20 And at that point, I returned back to the 21 original field at Jefferson and Lincoln Road to try and 22 continue my search in that field. 23 Q Did you do that? 24 A Yes, sir. 25 Q How long did you stay in that area? DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
255 1 A I'd say I stayed in the field for 20 minutes walking 2 in an east to southeast direction trying to stay in the 3 thickest part of the field figuring that would be one of 4 the best places that you would hide. 5 Q And while you were out there, did you encounter 6 anyone? 7 A No, sir. 8 Q Now, were you the only officer out making search in 9 this area? 10 A As far as I knew, I was. I had contact with Officer 11 Benton; and from the directions he gave me, I got the 12 impression he was in the field to the west of me looking 13 in that field. 14 Q So you were searching. Apparently, Officer Benton 15 was searching. Anyone else? 16 A Not in that area that I'm aware of. 17 Q In other areas? 18 A Yes, sir. 19 Q Who was searching in other areas? 20 A We had -- the lieutenant was there. Lieutenant Davis 21 was searching the areas. The Chief was helping search 22 areas. 23 There was a large amount of officers. I can't 24 remember everyone that was there. 25 Q You say you spent some time then in this field area. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
256 1 Did you ever leave that area? 2 A When I reached the Reorganized Church of Latter Day 3 Saints, which is to the east of where my car is, I 4 overheard that they thought that perhaps this person that 5 had broken into the house may have ran north. 6 So from that point, I ran on foot from the 7 church down Lincoln about halfway between Lincoln -- about 8 halfway to Jefferson. 9 And I saw some officers off in a field to the 10 east, northeast of the Allen home. 11 And at that point, I joined up with those 12 officers and continued to search. 13 Q How long did you remain in that area? 14 A In close proximity of the house. I would way 15 probably close to 10 to 15 minutes, and then we continued 16 east towards Nowata Road. 17 Q Who all was involved in that search? 18 A At that time, it was just myself and Chief Holland. 19 We paired up and went east from the residence and went 20 around the Nowata Road area and checking in backyards and 21 things. 22 Q And as you did that, did you find anything or 23 discover anything out of the ordinary? 24 A No, sir. 25 Q What did you do then? DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
257 1 A When we got to -- and I can't recall the street. But 2 we got to the first street that would be east of Jefferson 3 going through backyards. 4 And at that point, myself and Chief Holland 5 split up. 6 I then went across this street and into a field 7 behind that block and started -- there's a park there 8 between Limestone School and this street. 9 I started looking through that area, checked. 10 It's real grown over and wooded. Checked that area. 11 Checked through the park area, then started checking 12 backyards along the road there. 13 Q Again, did you find anything to cause you alarm or 14 concern? 15 A The only thing that caused me any concern was there 16 were some kids having a slumber party. 17 And I made contact with their parents and said 18 that we had had a serious assault and at that time, we 19 didn't know whether or not we had anybody -- we didn't 20 have an idea as to who may have done it at that time, at 21 least I didn't. 22 Q What did you do then? 23 A I continued around, went back, got back on the road, 24 went back to the Allen home and waited outside for a 25 period of time. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
258 1 Q And what did you do while you were outside there? 2 A Just basically kept people from going in that didn't 3 need to be in the residence. 4 Q Did you make any search in the immediate area around 5 the Allen home? 6 A There was a house to the north of the Allen home, and 7 I made reference as to had anybody looked in the backyard 8 of this home. 9 It has a very tall privacy fence, and I couldn't 10 find anyone that had even been over there yet. 11 So myself and Officer Virden went to the 12 residence, knocked on the door, could not get an answer at 13 the residence. 14 We went to the gate of this residence, and it 15 was locked. So we -- myself and Officer Virden climbed 16 the fence and was looking through the backyard seeing if 17 we could find anything that would have anything to do with 18 this case. 19 Q Did you find anything? 20 A No, sir. 21 Q Now, as you had contact with that house there that 22 you found to be unoccupied, did you notice anything amiss 23 about it? 24 A No, sir, I did not. 25 Q What did you discover when you got in the backyard? DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
259 1 A Just a basic, you know, backyard. We had -- they 2 have a swimming pool in that yard. 3 We checked around, all around the area of the 4 backyard in the grass that we could with the light that we 5 had, and there was nothing unusual about the backyard. 6 Q What did you do next? 7 A We were getting ready to go back to leave and climb 8 over the fence when the people that lived at the residence 9 saw us in the backyard and came to the door and asked us 10 what, you know, what we were doing. 11 And we explained it to them; and they said, 12 well, just come through the house and we'll let you out 13 the front door. 14 Q And did you do that? 15 A Yes, sir. 16 Q Now, were you involved in assisting them in any 17 manner as far as looking through the interior of their 18 house or searching their home? 19 A No, sir. 20 Q Do you know whose home that was? 21 A No, sir. 22 0 And that would be you and who else? 23 A Officer Ed Virden. 24 Q What did you do then? 25 A We went back to the Allen home. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
260 1 Q And what did you do at that point? 2 A We were out in front of the house; and at that point, 3 somebody brought a piece of equipment -- and I want to say 4 a flashlight -- and handed it to me and said somebody 5 needed it inside. 6 I took it inside and turned it over to a person 7 in the kitchen. 8 Q What did you do after that? 9 A Left the kitchen and went to the garage and observed 10 that the attic door in the garage was closed and asked I 11 believe it was Chief Holland if anyone had even bothered 12 to look in the attic to see if the person that had done 13 this may be in there. And at that point, he told me no. 14 Q So what did you do? 15 A Lowered the attic door, brought the ladder down, and 16 scaled the steps up to the attic. 17 Q And what did you do at that point? 18 A Got up to the top -- well, to a point in the stairs 19 to where my head could get into the attic to where I could 20 see around and see if anyone was up there. 21 Q And what did you see or observe up in the attic? 22 A Just stored items from the residence that I assume 23 were from the residence. 24 Q You didn't see anyone up there? 25 A No, sir. DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
261 1 Q What did you do after that? 2 A Came down the steps and went back outside. 3 Q Now, in regard to the steps, did you do or not do 4 anything in regard to those steps? 5 A I left the steps down so that any other officer that 6 would come along would know that that had been checked. 7 Q As far as you know, did the steps remain down? 8 A Yes, sir. 9 MR. CORGAN: I believe that's all. 10 -------------------------------------------------------- 11 CROSS-EXAMINATION 12 BY MR. CARLSON: 13 Q Mr. Cline, how long did you search south of the Allen 14 residence that evening? 15 A I don't recall. 16 Q Do you have an approximation? 17 A Not an accurate one, no, sir. 18 Q Why did you search south- initially? 19 A The information that I received over the radio led me 20 to believe that the suspect in this had been reported to 21 be running south. 22 Q And that would have come from the dispatcher; is that 23 correct? 24 A Yes, sir. 25 Q And the dispatcher would have been Terri Lippert; DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
262 1 isn't that correct? 2 A Yes, sir. 3 Q So the information that you received from Miss 4 Lippert was that the person had run south? 5 A Yes, sir. 6 Q Was there anybody else searching down there south? 7 A Not that I know of. 8 Q Now, you said at one point, you went back north; is 9 that correct? Did I understand you correct on that, that 10 you went back north and searched north? 11 A Yes, sir. 12 Q And this was after you'd searched south. 13 A Yes, sir. 14 Q You don't have any approximation about how long it 15 was from the time that you were searching south till you 16 went north? Are you talking about 20 minutes? Fifteen 17 minutes? Thirty minutes? 18 A I really didn't keep track of time. 19 Q I take it that the units were then searching south 20 initially. Fair statement? 21 A I was. I don't know about the rest of the units. 22 Q Were you in radio contact with anybody while you were 23 searching? 24 A I really didn't talk to anybody other than listen to 25 the radio and try to catch all the conversation that was DISTRICT COURT OF OKLAHOMA OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
263 1 going on over the incident. 2 Q Was there a lot of confusion out there? 3 A There didn't appear to be, no, sir. 4 Q Was there a lot of people on the radio at that time? 5 I assume there was. 6 A There were. Something -- an incident of this nature 7 draws a lot of radio traffic, yes, sir. 8 Q From a number of different agencies? A number of 9 different people? 10 A Yes, sir. 11 MR. CARLSON: That's all we have, Your 12 Honor. 13 MR. CORGAN: Nothing further. 14 THE COURT: Thank you, Officer. Next 15 witness. 16 MR. CORGAN: Your Honor, we would call 17 Larry Pottroff. 18 ---------------------------------------------------
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