PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The man accused of shooting a Philadelphia police officer 12 years ago pleaded guilty this month just before facing his fourth trial.
In August 2013, Philadelphia Police Officer Ed Davies was shot in the torso while trying to arrest Eric Torres inside a Feltonville bodega. He spent weeks in a medically induced coma, but survived.
Three other police officers were also injured in the melee, including Raul Ortiz, who was shot in the arm two years ago while interrupting a car theft at Philadelphia International Airport with Sgt. Richard Mendez, who was shot and killed.
Torres was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and a slew of other offenses, and was convicted in 2015 of aggravated assault.
Two years later, the superior court overturned that conviction because of evidence issues, and he went to trial again — but this time, prosecutors showed jurors a gun that a judge ruled they weren’t allowed to see, and it was declared a mistrial.
A third trial also ended in a mistrial because of juror misconduct.
And just as the fourth was set to begin, Torres pleaded guilty to several charges, including aggravated assault involving Ortiz and the two other injured officers, but pleaded no contest to the lead assault charge involving Davies.
He told the court he truly believes he wasn’t the one to shoot Davies.
Torres was sentenced to 12 to 24 years and has been in prison since the incident.
Earlier this week, two men were convicted of murder for the fatal shooting of Sgt. Mendez.