Officer Roncin Describes Arrest Of Hacker, Who Sued City For $600,000

Officer Derek Roncin of the Chattanooga Police Department on Tuesday recounted a July 25, 2013 incident with Steven Hacker which led to the defendant filing a lawsuit against the city seeking $600,000.

Hacker appeared in Judge Don Poole’s courtroom on Tuesday, facing charges before a jury of aggravated assault, evading arrest, driving under the influence, possession of drug paraphernalia, violation of traffic control device, and violation of registration law.

Officer Roncin said he saw a vehicle in the parking lot of Sandy’s Liquor Store on Glass Street after the business was closed. He said someone was talking through the passenger window.

“We have a lot of drug traffic and violent crimes that happen at that store,” he said, which caused him to approach and take a closer look. While running the vehicle’s tag, he observed it roll through a red light, so he began looking for a safe place to stop, he said.

After this, he told the jury the vehicle turned into a driveway. As he turned his car around to pull over, he said the driver got out of the vehicle and began approaching quickly, waving his arms. The witness said he took the gesture as an invitation, as if the “person was flagging me down.”

Officer Roncin said when he asked the defendant for his identification, he became upset, eventually saying “f*** you” and running off. When the defendant made it inside the garage of the residence, the officer said he returned to his car and called for backup.

Officer Cornelius Gaines and Officer John Watkins arrived, and Officer Roncin said the defendant was screaming obscenities from the front door of the residence. He said they tried to approach to communicate with Hacker and get him to calm down when “a female came out screaming, trying to figure out what was going on.”

The witness said that female was Hacker’s grandmother. He said the woman tried to talk to police, but Hacker began yelling at her and others in the residence, telling them not to tell police who he was and that they were not supposed to be there.

“(Hacker’s grandmother) was standing in the hallway trying to keep him from coming toward us,” said Officer Roncin.

At one point, the witness said Hacker “pushed her to the side to come to us.”

Defense attorney Robin Flores asked the witness why he didn’t just tell the defendant why they wanted him to come out and talk.

“If you normally tell somebody right off the bat that they’re being charged with certain charges, it will agitate them more,” the officer responded.

Officer Roncin agreed that the defendant told him to leave and get off his property. He also said he attempted to turn on his audio and video while he was running, but didn’t manage to activate it.

Then he said there was a short break where they couldn’t see the suspect before Officer Gaines yelled “knife” and drew his pistol. Officer Roncin said he was “way closer than I wanna be to anybody with a knife that has ill intent toward me” and feared for his safety. He said Hacker slammed the wooden door and began screaming, “Go ahead! Shoot me! Shoot me!”

He said he and the other officers walked off the porch to the middle of the driveway, but Hacker didn’t calm down. Officer Roncin told the jury he had seen individuals impaired by drugs many times and thought there was some source causing the defendant to behave in such a way.

“There was no communication between the two of us,” he said. “I would ask him a simple question and it would be a screaming yelling response.”

After the suspect came outside the house two or three times, Officer Watkins used his Taser to detain him, the witness said. It was then, he said, that the defendant fell into a window. The witness told the jury Officer Watkins tried to grab the defendant, but didn’t make it in time.

Officer Roncin said using a Taser was the safest method in their situation, but it was not their intention for the defendant to fall through a window.

He said after Hacker was injured, the primary focus became “the welfare of the suspect.”

Attorney Flores said the defendant had a large shard of glass in his back and “was bleeding profusely.” He said Hacker “had to be rushed to the hospital” and “had to have surgery.”

Officer Roncin said he went inside to speak with the defendant’s grandmother and to calm her down, since she had initially thought “Mr. Hacker had been shot.” He also said Hacker confessed only to drinking that night.

He told the jury that after the incident, a scale with white residue on it was pulled from the vehicle. He said the residue was consistent with his knowledge of powder or crack cocaine. He told attorney Flores he had no knowledge of any money or drugs being found in the car, or of any other search of the vehicle.

Prosecutor Charles Minor, however, suggested that when the defendant ran inside, he could have put such things “wherever he wanted to.”

When asked about where the knife was now, Officer Roncin told the jury he never had any records of it being collected, nor did he have the property.

“We had to get down to the emergency room with (Hacker),” Officer Roncin said when asked by Prosecutor Minor if he’d collected the knife.

He agreed with attorney Flores, however, that the defendant would have dropped the knife when he was Tased.

Prosecutor Minor asked directly if there was something in the defendant’s hand when he came out of the house before he was Tased, and the witness agreed, though he said he didn’t see if it was a knife or not. He told the jury he knew the suspect had had a cellphone.

The state also spoke to the specimen processor from Erlanger Hospital, Ms. Henry, who drew the defendant’s blood sample. She said she personally checked the names and labels and walked the blood to the lab. She also said no one would have access to the lab but the people who worked in there, not even doctors or nurses. 

“You have to have a code to get in to the lab,” she said. “You can't just walk in there.”

She said the lab is locked down 24/7 and keeps track of everyone who enters the code. The witness said back in 2013 she would typically draw blood from 40 patients a night using the same procedure. She insisted on the importance of making sure blood is documented correctly, since even a small mistake could result in the death of a patient.

When Prosecutor Minor asked how Ms. Henry knew blood wasn’t being tampered with or misplaced, the witness said there is no one else in the lab but the people working there.

“Why would we tamper with it?” she asked, confused. “I treat patients like it’s me or my family. I don’t wanna get nothing mixed up.”

When speaking to attorney Flores, she agreed that there are about eight people in the lab at once dealing with dozens or scores of blood vials. She could not testify about who put the defendant’s blood on the machine.

Attorney Flores mentioned a situation at Erlanger where “a fellow came in and identified himself, masqueraded as a doctor, and got access to drugs.” The witness agreed that doctors have been let into the lab before.

Though she had no proof of what sample was given to Officer Roncin when he came in with a warrant, Ms. Henry said in 37 years she had never seen an instance of blood getting mislabeled inside the lab.