OFFICER DESCRIBES DEADLY CHASE

Drug Agent On Trial For Manslaughter In Shooting Of Suspect

Mike Walker, the first California drug enforcement agent ever charged
with killing someone in the line of duty, took the stand Monday in
San Jose and calmly described the harrowing car chase that led to the
shooting death of Rudolfo "Rudy" Cardenas.

Walker's testimony came in the fourth week of his trial on voluntary
manslaughter charges for killing Cardenas, a 43-year-old San Jose
man. Walker is trying to show he acted in self defense, but
prosecutors have called him a cowboy cop, whose reckless and rash
behavior led to Cardenas' death.

If convicted, Walker could face up to 11 years in state prison.

Walker spent hours on the stand describing the events that began with
a stakeout at a home in downtown San Jose on Feb. 17, 2004. He was
one of several state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement agents looking
to arrest David Gonzalez, a parolee. When Cardenas cruised by slowly
in a van and appeared to look directly at the house, Walker said he
followed him, thinking the van's driver might be Gonzalez.

As Walker, who was driving an unmarked Ford Thunderbird, tried to get
a closer look, the 43-year-old Cardenas seemed to be growing
increasingly nervous.

"He was looking in his rear view mirror -- constantly watching me ...
which corroborated the possibility that this was our suspect," Walker
told the six-man, six-woman jury. "It was consistent with someone who
(believes they) are being followed by police."

Walker calmly talked about the high-speed car chase through downtown
San Jose. Cardenas tried desperately to escape, Walker testified,
driving as fast as 65 mph down the city streets, turning the wrong
way onto a one-way street and faking turns in an apparent effort to
lose Walker.

Walker said he turned on the police lights and siren of his unmarked
car, but Cardenas didn't heed the warnings. Instead, Cardenas
abruptly pulled his van to a curb and took off running down an alley.

Walker said he yelled at Cardenas to stop, using both English and
Spanish, but the man kept running, always holding his hands at his
waist. The position of the fleeing man's hands and the fact that he
believed he was chasing Gonzalez, who had a record and been involved
with a prison gang, led him to fear that the man he was chasing was
armed and dangerous, the agent said.

Walker's testimony is scheduled to resume this morning. He is
expected to testify that Cardenas jumped a chain-link fence, and then
turned toward him and appeared to be reaching for what Walker thought
was a small, dark gun. Walker has told investigators he shot Cardenas
five times, believing he was acting in self defense. But
investigators never found a gun and the evidence shows Cardenas was
shot in the back.