“I was panicking. I was shocked and in disbelief that someone was hit,” he said.
He said he saw that Gurley, 28, appeared to be seriously injured, with his eyes rolled back.
“He was just laying there very still,” said Liang, who choked up again but stayed on the stand.
Instead of trying CPR, Liang said, he thought the best way to help Gurley was to call for medical professionals in the ambulance.
Liang was taken to a hospital because of ringing in his ears from the gunfire. He said he also was hyperventilating and had to be given oxygen, as well as calming medication once he arrived at the hospital.
The Liang trial is being closely watched by advocates for police accountability, who see it as a counterpoint to decisions by grand juries declining to indict white police officers in the killings of unarmed black men, including those of Eric Garner on Staten Island and Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.
In this case, Liang is Chinese-American; Gurley was black.
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