PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — One of the defendants arrested for fatally shooting Philadelphia Police Sgt. Richard Mendez, two years ago, and wounding his partner, took the stand Friday against his co-defendants.
Through an interpreter, 23-year-old Alexander Batista-Polanco said he, Yobranny Martinez-Fernandez, Hendrick Peña-Fernandez and Jesús Madera-Durán drove to an airport parking garage on Oct. 12, 2023, to steal a car.
Batista-Polanco said he knew Yobranny and Hendrick as “YoYo” and “Heni,” and that when they broke the window of a Dodge Charger and tried to reprogram a key fob, they were interrupted by Mendez and his partner.
Gunfire rang out, and Mendez was shot four times and died. His partner was shot in the arm and survived.
Batista-Polanco told jurors he saw his best friend, Madera-Durán, fall to the ground after he was shot twice. He said they raced him to the hospital, where he died.
He said the three then hightailed it to Central Jersey, where they torched the car they were driving and stayed at a hotel for a few days until they were arrested.
Batista-Polanco told jurors that night that they wore gloves to conceal their fingerprints, ski masks to shield their faces from cameras, and kept their phones in airplane mode to avoid being tracked.
He said they eventually switched their phones back on and made some calls, including to Madera-Durán’s family to let them know he was in the hospital.
Defense attorneys tried to poke holes in his story and questioned his plea agreement with prosecutors, saying things like, “You will say what you need to say to get favorable treatment.”
He told jurors he is afraid for his and his family’s safety.
Yobranny Martinez-Fernandez and Hendrick Peña-Fernandez face second-degree murder and attempted murder charges for shooting Mendez and his partner.
The trial will continue on Monday.