Officer Nicolas Morales heard a frenzied call over the radio, rushed to the scene and saw Ella French prone on the ground.
He thought she had just been knocked out, he told the jury, but quickly realized she was unresponsive. Then, he heard soft moans from her partner, Carlos Yanez Jr., who was on the ground and murmuring, “I’m shot.”
“I didn’t want to leave Ella,” Morales said, his voice breaking, “but he needed help so I went over to him.”
Morales and other responding officers testified Thursday about their arrival to 63rd Street and Bell Avenue to find French fatally wounded and Yanez clinging to life. As the trial for a man accused in their shooting moved to its fourth day, police officers told the jury about their frantic drives to the University of Chicago Medical Center to get help for French and Yanez.
French, 29, was gunned down Aug. 7, 2021, while conducting a traffic stop, rattling the city and the Police Department. Yanez was seriously injured and a third partner, Joshua Blas, was shot at, prosecutors said, and returned fire, striking the suspect, Emonte Morgan.
Emonte Morgan, 23, is charged with murder and other felonies in connection with the shooting. His brother, Eric Morgan, was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the shooting in October.
Morgan’s attorneys have argued that the body camera video does not clearly depict the shooting.
On Thursday, the first responding officers described on the stand how they worked together to carry French and Yanez into separate squad cars to rush to the hospital.
“Time was a crucial factor,” Morales said.
Jurors viewed body camera footage that captured the drive to the hospital, with Morales testifying that he and the other officer with him tried to soothe Yanez and keep him talking. One of the officers that transported French, Antonio Rodriguez, told the jury he did mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions to try to revive French while they tore off to the hospital.
Jurors also viewed photographs of the sprawling crime scene, from the area around 63rd and Bell where the shooting happened to the nearby residential area where police arrested Morgan and his brother.
Jennifer Jacobucci, a CPD evidence technician called to the scene the night of the shooting, had to compose herself at times while viewing photographs of the scene: A pool of blood on the street, a bulletproof vest in the grass with French’s name prominent on the front, a closeup of the gun in the grass.
Jacobucci testified that she did a walk-through of the scene with the lead detective and flagged numerous shell casings with evidence markers.
According to prosecutors, French, Yanez and Blas pulled over an SUV occupied by Emonte Morgan, his brother Eric and a woman for expired plates. Eric Morgan handed over the keys when asked, prosecutors have alleged, but Emonte Morgan refused to put down a drink and a cellphone he was holding, leading to a scuffle, prosecutors said.
Eric Morgan took off running, witnesses for the state have testified, and was chased by Blas, who returned to the scene when he heard gunfire.
Body camera footage shown to the jury shows chaotic, closeup movements before Yanez and French were shot. French was on the other side of the vehicle, and ran around to help her partner.
Body camera footage shows Blas returning to the scene, yelling in anguish.
The trial began Monday with jury selection, and prosecutors began presenting witnesses Tuesday.
The courtroom at the Leighton Criminal Court Building has been crowded with family members and police officers for often-emotional testimony.
Elizabeth French, Ella’s mother, told the jury Tuesday about her final phone call with her daughter, who called her on her way to work that night.
“She liked to call me on her way to work,” she told the jury.
Yanez, who survived the shooting but remains disabled, told the jury Wednesday about catastrophic gunshot wounds he suffered. He testified that he remembers the beginning of the traffic stop, then nothing until shortly after the shooting.
“I heard gunfire right above me, and then I heard Josh screaming Yanez! Yanez! French!,” Yanez testified on Wednesday, referring to Detective Joshua Blas.
