Officer Identifies Williams as One of Denny’s Attackers : Trial: Patrolman who knows defendant from working in special unit tells jurors he recognizes suspect in a videotape of the beating.

Damian Monroe Williams was the man who hurled a heavy object at trucker Reginald O. Denny, crushing his skull, at the outset of last year’s riots, a police officer told jurors Tuesday at the Denny beating trial.

“There was no doubt about it, (it) was Damian Williams,” said Officer Timothy McRath, who said he did not witness the beating but recognized Williams after watching a videotape of the assault.

McRath said he was familiar with Williams because he worked a special police unit that patrolled the area where the beating took place.

The officer’s testimony came after cross-examination of helicopter news reporter Robert A. Tur, the first witnesses to identify Williams and co-defendant Henry Keith Watson as Denny’s attackers.

“The last thing I would do is go after someone innocent. I would never, ever do that,” said Tur, whose helicopter circled 70 feet over Florence and Normandie avenues April 29, 1992.

Attorney Edi Faal, who represents Williams, challenged Tur’s identification of Williams, 20, and Watson, 28, as the attackers.

The lawyer asked about Tur’s eyeglasses and his poor eyesight as well as the binoculars he used to help him see what was happening below.

But Tur looked at the defendants and said: “That guy did it, that guy did it. I saw them do it.”

The witness was unshakable but the lawyer was undeterred, focusing on Tur’s earlier statement that he was a biased witness.

“I’m still a human being. I still saw what I saw and I am very biased when it comes to people beating other people up,” Tur said. “Those people, and the people that I saw do it, are guilty and they should be punished for it.”

Denny, who is white, was pulled from his tractor-trailer rig and beaten hours after a jury acquitted four police officers on all but one state charge in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney G. King.

Florence and Normandie was a flash point for three days of rioting that led to 53 deaths and $1 billion in damage.

Earlier this year, two of officers involved in the King beating were convicted on federal charges of violating King’s civil rights. They were sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Williams and Watson are charged with attempting to kill Denny, and with assaulting or robbing five other motorists and two firefighters at Florence and Normandie.

Another defendant in the Denny case, Antoine Miller, 21, is charged with attempted murder but has been granted a separate trial. Lance Jerome Parker, 27, awaits trial on charges of assault with a firearm and other felonies.

Three other men pleaded guilty or no contest to various charges in the case.