#2943: Pal Says Cop Punched, Then Shot Dorismond (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

Pal Says Cop Punched,  Then Shot Dorismond 
 By JOHN MARZULLI and MIKE CLAFFEY Daily News Staff Writers
Original Publication Date: 03/22/2000 

A friend of Patrick Dorismond who witnessed the unarmed security guard's
shooting said yesterday that the same cop who shot Dorismond first threw
a punch at him. Kevin Kaiser, 22, said Detective Anthony Vasquez swung
at Dorismond in the seconds before he fired the fatal shot early      
last Thursday.  That differs from an account Kaiser   gave
investigators, in which he said  Detective Anderson Moran threw a punch.
It was Moran, an undercover, who approached Dorismond during a
buy-and-bust drug sting and apparently enraged him.The account of
Kaiser, a security guard who had been drinking with Dorismond, differs
from the version of the three police detectives involved in the
incident.The cops have insisted that Dorismond, 26, punched Moran      
and in the ensuing melee lunged at a gun pulled out by Vasquez, who,
along with a second cop, was acting as backup.Kaiser said he and
Dorismond were trying to catch a cab on Eighth Ave. when they were
approached by "three men who looked like derelicts" who asked for
"weed." When they rebuffed the request, Kaiser said, Moran stood in
front of Dorismond and "taunted" him with animal noises. He said      
Moran, Vasquez and the other cop were also present for the exchange.  
"I then saw Officer Vasquez throw a punch at my friend Patrick; the blow
struck his upper body," he said.The only detailed police version has
come from an attorney representing Vasquez, Philip Karasyk, who has said
the shooting was an accident sparked by Dorismond lunging for the cop's
gun.Karasyk's account also has Moran asking the men where they        
can "get some weed." When Dorismond responded belligerently, Moran told
him, "Listen, forget about it,"Karasyk said. He said Vasquez and a
second backup called out, "'Come on, let's go. We'll get it somewhere
else.' And then Dorismond hauls off and punches Moran." Karasyk said
Vasquez and the other cop rushed into the fray. Vasquez, he said, did
not pull his gun until he heard someone yell, "Gun!""He thinks somebody
is going to pull a gun, so he takes out his  gun and Dorismond lunges
for it, and his hand comes in contact with it and the gun discharges,"
Karasyk said. The  attorney denied Moran made "animal noises" or
provoked a confrontation. "Undercovers want to make the buy and move  
on," he said. "The last thing they want is a conflict where their    
cover is going to be blown."