The most seriously injured of three Manchester police officers wrestled with his emotions Wednesday as he testified in the trial of the man accused of stabbing the three during a domestic disturbance in 2020.
Officer Brendan Langton paused at times, took deep breaths and fought back emotion as he described the encounter with Akwasi Owusu, who was then 18, in an Elmwood Gardens apartment.
“I felt a sharp strike to my upper right side. I immediately knew I was stabbed with an object,” Langton testified. At Elliot Hospital, he struggled to breathe before his lung was drained of fluid, he testified. He needed an apparatus to help him breathe, he suffered a broken rib, and he was out of work for a few months, he said.
Langton took the stand on the third day of Owusu’s trial in Hillsborough County Superior Court. Owusu faces three charges of attempted murder and three charges of first-degree assault.
After his arrest, Owusu ended up at the New Hampshire State Hospital. He was diagnosed with a mental illness and sent home under a doctor’s care.
With the jury out of the courtroom, his lawyers had extensive discussions with prosecutors and Judge David Anderson about jury instructions regarding self-defense and lawful use of force by police.
“The person’s not entitled to (a) self-defense (claim) if it was lawful force,” said Hillsborough County prosecutor Jonathan Raiche.
But Anderson said he was hesitant to take that decision away from the jury. Owusu’s public defenders have focused on a key phrase in the self-defense statute: a person who “reasonably believes” he faces unlawful, deadly force is justified to defend himself.
So even if the jury thinks police use of force was lawful, the jury should be able to consider self-defense, said public defender Brian Civale.
“The relevant analysis is what Akwasi understood was happening,” Civale said.
During the trial on Wednesday, jurors viewed footage from Langton’s body camera and what happened when they opened the door to his room and entered.
In the video, police never tell Owusu that he is under arrest, only that they want to speak to him.
Once they open his door, three officers demand to see both of Owusu’s hands. He is lying on a mattress and his left hand is hidden underneath blankets. One officer asks to see both of his hands. Another demands loudly, “show us your hands, now.” The third: “Let me see your hands or you’re going to get Tased.”
Meanwhile, Owusu asks officers “Who am I?” and tells police how to pronounce his name correctly.
”Zee as in Zeus, AkwaZEE,” he said at one point, emphasizing the final syllable of his name.
After the Taser prongs did not subdue Owusu, Langton discharged the Taser five times at Owusu using the lower-impact “drive stun,” which requires that the weapon touch the person’s body.
Owusu never threatened the officers, and Langton described the 45 seconds of conflict as chaotic. It was the only time Langton ever fired a Taser, he said, and he didn’t have time to reholster it.
“I felt instantly when I walked in he leapt out of the bed and I was struck,” Langton said.
The jury was expected to get the case by Wednesday afternoon for deliberation. Their verdict will end only the first phase of the trial. If Owusu is found guilty of any of the charges, the second phase will consider his insanity defense.
Owusu now works at a local fast-food restaurant. Attempted murder charges carry a sentence of life in prison, but with the possibility of parole.
