AUSTIN, Texas — Day two just wrapped up in the trial of an Austin police officer charged with murdering a man while responding to a call in 2020. The jury heard emotional testimony from a woman who says she regrets calling 911 that day.
The 911 call prompted police to confront Michael Ramos outside a southeast Austin apartment complex. A few minutes later, Officer Christopher Taylor shot and killed Ramos.
Many tears were shed in the courtroom as Meko Scott, the 911 caller who falsely reported Ramos had a gun, went up to testify. Scott said she replays the day Ramos died in her mind a lot.
She said she heard from someone else at the complex that there was drug activity outside her apartment complex and that Ramos had a gun, so she made the 911 call giving a description of Ramos and the Prius he was driving. The audio of that call was played in court. Scott told the prosecution it was emotional to hear and she is embarrassed.
"The whole neighborhood assumed that he was a nuisance, and they weren't doing nothing about it. If I could take anything back, I would take that back. I would take that back, sir. I've never seen that man with a gun," Scott said.
The defense went on to question Scott, saying she had good intentions making that call but asked her to acknowledge it set into motion a terrible chain of events.
"That's very fair. I feel like I'm the one that killed him," Scott said.
Some other witnesses who took the stand included a police sergeant who investigates officer-involved shootings. The jury also heard from Mark Johnson, who works with a forensic visualization group. Johnson took video evidence that was given to him to create three-dimensional versions of the scenes.
Ramos' girlfriend of six months at the time, Rebeca Garcia, also testified since she was with Ramos when the shooting took place.
She describes Ramos as her "best friend," and was with him the whole day before police confronted them in April 2020. Garcia said five police cars showed up right in front of them and she did not know which way to go or whom to listen to. Garcia feared if they made a wrong step, they would get shot.
Garcia admits she is still having difficulties dealing with what happened that day.
"It's hard to trust people, especially the police. Every time I see APD, I'm never going to forget that night," Garcia said.
Earlier in the day, a witness claims she saw Ramos doing drugs, but the defense went on to question Garcia about whether Ramos was using drugs that day, which Garcia denied.
Day 3 of testimony kicks off again on Wednesday morning.