A man shot three years ago by a Tucson police officer told investigators while he was still in the hospital he didn't fault the officer because she probably thought he had a gun.
In fact, Eric Becerra told investigators he would have shot himself too under those circumstances, attorney Daryl Audilett told a Pima County Superior Court jury Tuesday.
But Becerra subsequently sued the Tucson Police Department and Officer Maria Cabrera, saying Cabrera was poorly supervised by the department and acted negligently when she shot Becerra.
Audilett, who represents the city, and David Lipartito, who represents Becerra, gave their opening statements Tuesday afternoon.
Audilett told jurors Cabrera and her partner pulled over a car Becerra was a passenger in because they'd been told Becerra had threatened some people with a gun a couple of hours earlier.
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Becerra, seated in the front passenger seat of a Ford Taurus, repeatedly refused to show Cabrera his hands, Audilett said. Cabrera ended up shooting Becerra when she saw what she thought was a gun barrel pointed directly at her.
Officers never found a gun, but the then-23-year-old Becerra fled the scene on foot and probably hid it before officers took him into custody a short time later, Audilett said.
Lipartito told jurors Becerra was holding a pack of cigarettes in one hand and a cell phone in the other.
But Audilett noted that Lipartito didn't mention Becerra first told investigators he was shot while trying to hide his marijuana pipe.
Audilett then played for the jurors the taped conversation Becerra had with investigators in which he acknowledges Cabrera told him to show her his hands twice and explained how he was shot while trying to hide the pipe.
"I would have shot myself, too," Becerra said. "I don't hate that lady. I honestly don't, man. She was doing her job."
The evidence will prove Becerra had a gun, but even if he didn't, Cabrera's actions were justified, Audilett said.
"Even if he'd just had a pipe, the shot was justified because she reasonably feared for her life," Audilett said.
Lipartito told jurors Cab-rera's actions that day were the result of impulsivity and over-reaction.
"She's not an evil person. I'm sure she's a good person in many ways, and you may even like her, but she made some horrible decisions that day," Lipartito said.
Judge Michael Miller is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last four days.
