Memory of Riot Killing Blurry, Witness Says : Trial: Nephew of motorcyclist slain in Long Beach weeps as he testifies against three suspects in the murder case. Describing ‘flashing pictures in my mind’ he tells of being chased, dragged to the ground and kicked.

Scott Coleman broke down in tears Monday when attorneys showed him a motorcycle helmet worn by his dead uncle, Matthew Haines, a 32-year-old Long Beach motorcyclist who was shot to death on the second day of the riots.

Coleman, who was with Haines on April 30 when he was killed, testified in the trial of three men accused of his murder. It is the first riot-related murder case to go to trial.

That helmet and another that the attorneys asked that he identify were barely scratched. But Coleman appeared as though his life had been shattered by the incident.

He said the sequence of events is blurry, describing instead “flashing pictures in my mind” of what happened that evening as the two men traveled along Pacific Coast Highway to pick up a friend.

Haines, who was driving the motorcycle, turned into a side street where the two men saw a group of people firing shots, Coleman testified. But just a few blocks away, on Lemon Street, something stopped the pair, although Coleman said he is not sure what.

“I see . . . instant pictures of different things that I saw, (or) thought I saw maybe,” said Coleman.

Coleman admitted that he took methamphetamines--a stimulant known as “ice”--the morning of April 30, but he said the drug had worn off by 6 p.m., when the pair was attacked.

“I don’t remember getting off the motorcycle itself. I remember me and Matt saying we would take off in different directions and catch up with each other later.”

Coleman said he remembers running across a parking lot, trying to get away from the scene.

“I remember being chased. I remember yelling out, ‘It’s cool, we’re on your side.’

“I remember being dragged across the parking lot. I remember laying on the ground, getting kicked in the back. I remember someone trying to pull my helmet off.

“I remember the paramedics telling me my uncle was dead.”

Three Long Beach residents have been charged with murder in the case: Larry Grant Williams, 24, Brent Lamar Jones, 17, and Fabian Nixon, 19.

Coleman did not say if he saw anyone shoot Haines. As he was trying to flee the scene, Coleman said, he was dragged through the parking lot back to the motorcycle, where Haines lay. He said he heard gunshots, and pointed out Williams in the courtroom as the man who held a gun to his face.

“His face is the face in the picture in my mind,” he said. “My mind sees it every day.”

Coleman identified Williams as an assailant when he talked to police a few days after the incident. But when defense attorneys cross-examined him Monday and asked what he had told police, he repeatedly said he did not remember. “I can remember things coming at us,” he said.

Coleman testified that he did not know exactly what stopped the motorcycle, but attorney Donald Herzstein, who represents Nixon, said Coleman had told police another story in May. Then, Coleman said the motorcycle halted when a car stopped ahead of it, another pulled up behind and several men got out of both automobiles, Herzstein said.

Coleman said that when he talked to police he was on medication for the injuries he suffered and was feeling “tired and groggy.” When asked whether the medication affected his ability to recall what happened, Coleman said, “It could have.”