Officer recounts night he was shot 5 times during trial

MARIETTA, Ga. — A driver accused of shooting a police officer five times is on trial in Cobb County and Tuesday the police officer took the stand and fought back tears as he recounted the night he was shot.

Channel 2's Ross Cavitt was in the courtroom as jurors watched the officer's dashcam video from the incident.

One of the lawyers told jurors that the video of Officer Charles Vill being shot at point-blank range was probably one of the worst things they ever witnessed.

Vill appeared as professional as they come, but it was clearly hard for him to remember the night in February.
 
"My partner had put a wrap around my arm and wrenched it down to stop the bleeding. We didn't know if it had gone through the bone. All I knew was there was a lot of blood coming out of my arm," Vill said on the stand.   
 
After the three-year police veteran showed jurors his injuries to his abdomen, his arm, side and his trigger finger shot off, jurors then saw Vill's dashcam video of him pulling over a car for a minor traffic violation after watching suspected drug activity.
 
Vill said he barely had a chance to get out a word before the suspect started shooting at him.
 
The video brought his wife and others in the courtroom to tears as they watched as fellow officers rendered first aid and tried to get Vill to tell them who opened fire.
 
"I'm fighting back these feelings of 'Am I going to die? Am I ever going to see my family again?' So I'm trying to say, 'Hey, I think it was the driver,'" Vill said.
 
Vill identified James Phillips as the driver and triggerman. 
 
Cavitt was there when police took Phillips away when he had been found hours later that February day hiding in an abandoned building near the Chattahoochee River.
 
He allegedly told one of the arresting officers, "I'm the one you're looking for, why didn't you shoot me?"
 
In opening statements, Phillip's attorney told the jury there's no way Vill could identify who really shot him because it happened very quickly and it was hard to tell where the shots were coming from.

WSBTV