Jury acquits Deptford officer

Gillespie testified this week that a hostile Rao was kicking the police cruiser's interior and threatened to smash the car window and escape.

Gillespie said it was his "duty to go back there and subdue him" to prevent an escape.

"I placed my hand on his chest area and pushed him back," Gillespie told jurors. "I gave him, like. a blow-push to get him back in the seat." He said Rao then kicked him in the crotch.

The prosecution contends that Gillespie removed Rao's handcuffs, challenged him to a fight, and when Rao declined, began choking him.

Gillespie testified that Rao was taunting him, cursing at him, and threatening to kill his family.

The prosecutor told jurors that Gillespie and Rao were both "hotheads" and that Gillespie "showed himself to be a total liar." Rao, said Colangelo, couldn't have threatened to smash the police car's windows because it wasn't recorded by the police car's audio recorder.

Rao told jurors that he was handcuffed in the backseat of the police car when he cursed Gillespie and another officer, Timothy Parks. With that, he said, Gillespie dived into the car and repeatedly shouted: "You got something to say?"

When he didn't reply, he said, Gillespie choked him and he kicked the officer in self-defense.

Rao was treated for minor injuries and charged with aggravated assault against the officers. The prosecutor dropped the charges after an investigation.

Rao has filed a claim that he intends to sue the township and the two officers for $1 million.

Mantua Police Officer Drew Hayes, who trained at the police academy with Gillespie, said he hoped the verdict would send a message about police officers.

"It could happen to any of us. We try to do the right thing," Hayes said.

Watch the Deptford Township Police Dept. car-stop video at go.philly.com/policebeat