Updated 04/25/2012 11:35 PM
Alleged Killer's Girlfriend Testifies That Officer's Fatal Fall Was Accidental
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The girlfriend of a man accused of shoving a city police officer over a railing to his death during a domestic dispute call testified in Brooklyn Wednesday, claiming that she did not see her boyfriend commit such an act. NY1's Criminal Justice reporter Dean Meminger filed the following report. Crying during her testimony, Kim Dykstra said her boyfriend, George Villanueva, is not guilty of shoving Police Officer Alain Schaberger off of a stoop to his death last year.
Testifying as a hostile prosecution witness in Brooklyn County Courthouse on Wednesday, Dykstra said, "George didn't push that cop, nobody pushed him."
Police Officer Alain Schaberger was responding to a domestic violence call in Boerum Hill last March, when Dykstra told 911 that Villanueva had threatened to kill her.
Officers said they struggled with Villanueva and even had to Taser him four times, because he was resisting arrest.
Authorities allege Villanueva pushed Schaberger over a railing and the officer fell nine feet to his death.
Villanueva has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and also faces several counts for domestic violence.
Dykstra testified Wednesday that she still loves Villanueva and maintained that Schaberger's death was accidental.
"I saw the male officer go over. I saw his feet fly back and then I went into shock. And then I saw George on the ground," said Dykstra.
"I think if anybody looked at the emotion she expressed on the stand while recounting the death of the officer, there is nothing false or insincere about the emotions she expressed on the stand," said defense attorney Kleon Andreadis.
The defense argues Schaberger's partner, Celmira Velazquez, is the one who accidentally bumped him over the rail during the struggle.
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch called it despicable for the defense attorney to blame an officer for the fatal fall and said Villanueva is fully responsible.
"We have the professional testimony of a police officer who was at the scene that night, seen this perp turn and physically push police officer Schaberger over," Lynch said. "Let us not forget he was pushed so hard that he was wedged between the door and the step. That's not a tumble, that's a viscous push."
The defense says Josefa Villanueva, the defendant's mother, witnessed the scuffle and will also take the stand.
During her son's arraignment last year, Josefa Villanueva screamed in the courthouse hallway that her son is innocent.