Week 1 of ex-Sonoma County deputy’s manslaughter trial ends with two sides sparring over driver’s cause of death

Testimony in the involuntary manslaughter trial of former Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Charles Blount focused Friday on the forensic determination of what exactly killed motorist David Ward during an early morning traffic stop by law enforcement officers in 2019.

In the courtroom of Judge Robert LaForge, prosecutors called to the witness stand Dr. Joseph Cohen, the chief forensic pathologist with the Marin County Coroner who conducted Ward’s autopsy.

Cohen, a crucial expert witness, originally found that the 52-year-old Bloomfield man died by homicide due to “physical confrontation with law enforcement,” according to the autopsy report released months after Ward’s death.

On Friday, he explained to prosecutors how he reached that conclusion, outlining injuries Ward suffered as a result of blunt impacts, electrical shock from a stun gun and a now-banned neck hold used by Blount.

“The physical confrontation is significant here and likely put him over the edge,” Cohen said.

In cross-examination, however, Cohen explained to the defense how Ward’s poor health, including chronic use of methamphetamine — which he was on at the time — and heart and lung disease, played a significant role in his death.

“He has multiple comorbidities that place him at risk of sudden death in the face of that kind of stress,” Cohen said.

Cohen’s testimony marked the fourth day and the end of week one in the prosecution of Blount, a 19-year Sheriff’s Office veteran and the first law enforcement officer in Sonoma County to be tried for homicide in connection to an on-duty killing.

Testimony began Monday with opening statements from Deputy District Attorneys Robert Waner and Robert Rasp, who argued that Blount’s aggressive conduct during the traffic stop was a “wild departure” from what a reasonable officer should have done.

Defense attorneys Harry Stern and Andrew Ganz contended that Blount’s behavior was justified, because he feared for his life and the lives of his colleagues.

Much of the week’s testimony concerned proper police procedure during high-risk traffic stops, as well as Ward’s experience with law enforcement in the days and hours leading up to the deadly encounter. For both the prosecution and defense, officers who testified to the danger they felt they were in leading up to Ward’s death.

In the early-morning hours of Nov. 27, 2019, deputies began tailing a car that Ward had reported carjacked to the Sheriff’s Office days before. Ward did not tell authorities he had recovered his car, officers said, and was, unbeknown to them, behind the wheel when they attempted to pull the car over. Ward led officers on a pursuit through west county before coming to a stop near his Bloomfield home, where officers held him at gunpoint.

Blount arrived on the scene and within seconds approached Ward with his gun drawn and finger on his trigger, ordering Ward to unlock his car door, body-worn camera footage showed. Ward appeared confused and rolled down the window.

“I’m the injured party. Why are you f***ing harassing me all the time?” he said.

Blount immediately reached in and tried to pull the man out the window. With Ward stuck and the attempt to remove him unsuccessful, Blount began to beat Ward, bashed his head against the window sill and put him in a carotid hold as another deputy shot him with a stun gun.

Cohen testified Friday that Ward’s injuries included large bruises on his head, a lacerated spleen and liver, internal hemorrhaging, and 13 ribs broken in 18 places. Most of these rib fractures were likely caused during the hour of chest compressions authorities gave Ward after he fell unconscious, Cohen said, although two were probably due to blunt trauma.

Contributing factors in the death, Cohen found, included methamphetamine intoxication, chronic substance abuse and medical conditions such as an enlarged heart and emphysema.

In cross-examination, defense attorney Ganz grilled Cohen on whether Ward’s injuries or his bad health played the most important role in his death.

“Without law enforcement actions — the chase and the physical confrontation — I don’t think death would have occurred,” Cohen answered.

However, he acknowledged that no single traumatic injury killed Ward — it was a confluence of many factors, including the stress of the chase and struggle that strained Ward’s bad heart.

“Everything together put him over the edge and caused his death,” Cohen said.

Ganz also asked Cohen whether the injuries the doctor described would have killed someone who was in a healthier condition than Ward.

“These things, the vast majority would be able to walk away from,” Ganz said.

“Without any other physiological factors, yes,” Cohen answered.

At Friday’s close, LaForge told members of the jury that the trial is ahead of schedule. He originally predicted proceedings to continue until mid-February.

Testimony continues Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in Courtroom 1.

Jury composition

• 12 jurors, 6 alternates
• Jury: 7 men, 5 women
• Alternates: 4 men, 2 women
• Overwhelmingly white, aged 50 or older

Witnesses called

Seven of the prosecutors’ 10 witnesses were law enforcement officers who were in involved in the carjacking case or the morning pursuit. Prosecutors have played for the jury six videos from the witnesses’ body-worn cameras depicting the traffic stop and other contacts with Ward.

• Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Cayla Miale
• Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Terrence White
• Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Little (to be continued)
• Former Sebastopol Police officer Ethan Stockton
• Sebastopol Police Sgt. Andrew Bauer
• Bodega Bay Fire Protection District Firefighter/Paramedic Camden Plummer
• Petaluma Valley Hospital Emergency Medicine Physician Dr. Jay Goldberg
• Santa Rosa Police Evidence and Field Technician Shannon Brady
• Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Jax
• Marin and Napa County Coroner Chief Forensic Pathologist Dr. Joseph Cohen

You can reach Staff Writer Emily Wilder at 707-521-5337 or emily.wilder@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @vv1lder.