The last moments of Justine Damond’s life revealed in new courtroom evidence
Bodycam video submitted to an emotional courtroom revealed emergency workers performing CPR during the last moments of Justine Damond’s life.
Body camera footage from one of the first officers on the scene after Australian life coach Justine Ruszczyk Damond was shot by Minneapolis policeman Mohamed Noor shows the chaotic emergency worker response and the last moments of her life.
As emergency workers perform CPR on Ms Damond, several are heard saying they don’t know “what the hell” is going on.
A 25 minute video clip recorded by patrolman Scott Aiken from the moment he and partner Jesse Lopez responded to a report of “shots fired” just after 11.30pm on July 15, 2017, shows in harrowing detail their approach, under lights and sirens, and their arrival at the alley where efforts were being made to revive Ms Damond.
After they park and Aiken is making his way along the south Minneapolis street towards a cluster of emergency workers, voices can be heard saying “stay with us”, repeatedly.
“There you go, there you go, take a breath,” the voice urges, as footage shows emergency workers performing CPR on the 40 year old.
The paramedics work for several more minutes, but were unable to save Ms Damond.
The footage also recorded Noor sitting nearby in a squad car. His partner, Matthew Harrity, who had been driving their Ford Explorer patrol car when Noor shot Ms Damond, was also recorded getting something out of the car’s front seat.
Officer Aiken said he remembered seeing Noor that night but didn’t know at that time that he had shot Ms Damond, who had called 911 for help.
MORE: Justine’s last moments revealed
Ms Damond’s father John Ruszczyk, was in court as the final moments of her life were shown. Ms Damond’s fiance and her brother left the court before the footage was played.
It came the day after harrowing autopsy evidence and crime scene video was shown.
Prosecutors had used the second day of evidence at Mohamed Noor’s murder trial to recreate the final moments of Ms Damond’s life, playing the two 911 calls she made to help a woman she thought was being assaulted behind her home.
Ms Damond, 40, was wearing a pale pink T-shirt with a picture of a mother and baby koala printed on the front when she approached the squad car.
Noor’s defence has argued Ms Damond slapped the back of the pair’s Ford Explorer, scaring them and leading them to think they were in a “classic ambush” situation to which Noor’s rightfully reacted by opening fire.
The prosecution appears to be trying to build the argument that the street was well-lit enough for Noor to have recognised Ms Damond was not a threat, with prosecutor Amy Sweasey asking Officer Aiken several questions about how dark it was when he arrived.
“The street lights were on but it was dark,” Officer Aitken said. “You could see passably. You could make out faces.”
When Ms Sweasey asked: “Could you tell the difference between firefighters and paramedics, just by looking at them?”, the officer replied that he could.
On Wednesday, prosecution experts said there was no forensic evidence or fingerprints to show this was the case.
Prosecutors say Noor aimed and fired at Ms Damond “without saying a word” when she approached the driver’s side door of the car.
An emotional Don Damond, who had been engaged to marry Ms Damond, sat beside her father Mr Ruszczyk, who has travelled from Sydney with family for the trial and who is suing the city of Minneapolis in what is potentially the most expensive civil trial in the state’s history over the death of his daughter.
Mr Damond shook his head several times and leaned forward as Ms Damond’s voice was played in court. Her brother Jason and his wife had similar reactions.
Ms Damond called 911 at 11.27pm and spoke for 74 seconds, explaining that she was worried about a woman she could hear behind her home who could be “having sex or being raped”.
“It sounds like sex noises but it’s going on for a while,” she said. “I think she’s just called out ‘help’.”
In a second call at 11.35pm, she was worried the police might have been held up because they had the wrong address, but was assured by the 911 operator police were on the way. Ms Damond then called Mr Damond, who was out of town for work, and told him the police had
arrived. She was shot a minute and 19 seconds after they hung up, and her time of death was 11.50pm.
Mr Damond was not in court for the afternoon session, which heard extensive evidence from the medical examiner who performed an autopsy on his fiance.
Assistant medical examiner Dr Lorren Jackson said it was highly unlikely Ms Damond would have survived the bullet fired by Noor, given that she lost so much blood, more than 1.6 litres, and that it hit several vital organs.
“With that kind of blood loss even quick help may not have been enough (to save her),” Dr Jackson said. Dr Jackson also revealed that forensic tests showed there was no alcohol or drugs of any kind in Ms Damond’s system when she died.
“The results were negative across the board,” he said of toxicology tests performed.
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