San Diego
A police sergeant on Thursday rebutted testimony that he once stepped in to stop a fight between a black officer and Police Agent Donovan Jacobs after Jacobs allegedly called the officer “a nigger.”
Sgt. James Duncan testified as a prosecution’s rebuttal witness in the 11-week-old retrial of Sagon Penn, who is charged with killing Police Agent Thomas Riggs and wounding Jacobs and ride-along Sarah Pina-Ruiz.
Duncan was asked about the testimony offered Wednesday by Nathaniel Jordan, who said Jacobs called him “a nigger,” and that Duncan had stopped a fight between them.
“That is baloney,” Duncan said on the stand. “It did not happen. I was never aware at any time of Donovan Jacobs referring to anyone as a nigger.”
Jordan testified that he complained to Duncan about Jacobs using racial slurs during his police work, but Duncan said he never received any such complaints about Jacobs.
“I never observed any racial bias on his part. I never observed any excessive force by Donovan Jacobs,” Duncan said. “I thought that he (Jordan) was a very honest and straightforward person. I don’t know why he would tell that story.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
