John Lewis ordered held for trial

CENTER CITY - January 11, 2008 There was chilling testimony in court Friday, both by witnesses who saw Officer Cassidy gunned down and from a cousin of John Lewis, the man accused of killing Officer Cassidy.

Several employees and a customer of the donut shop identified John Lewis as the man who came in there, waving a gun on October 31, 2007.

The door of the Dunkin Donuts has an alert chime that sounded when Officer Cassidy opened it behind Lewis.

The witnesses say Lewis wielded around and shot Cassidy in the head.

They say Cassidy was crouched in the doorway, reaching for his gun, when he was shot.

Cassidy's wife Judy and their three children sat in the front row, wiping away tears, as the last moments of his life were describe in the courtroom.

More disturbing testimony came from John Lewis' cousin, Hakeem Glover.

Glover said Lewis and his mother called him to Lewis' mother's house the Saturday after Officer Cassidy was killed and told him that John Lewis was the man that police were looking for.

Glover said Lewis showed him two guns: one was the gun that was used to kill Officer Cassidy and the other was Officer Cassidy's service revolver that was taken from the scene, allegedly by Lewis.

Glover said he later drove Lewis to his sister's house in North Philadelphia.

He said there is where Lewis hid the two guns in a drop ceiling above the dining room.

Glover also said, at the time, Lewis was acting hysterical and he wasn't himself.

When asked what he meant by that, Glover said that Lewis said that he wanted to hurt somebody and kill another cop.

Glover testified that he helped Lewis get out of town. He drove Lewis to a bus depot in Wilmington, Delaware, and put him on a bus to Florida, where Lewis was supposed to meet up with Glover's sister.

However, Glover called Lewis, later, and told him not to go the sister's house because Lewis' picture was all over the news.

That is where police then caught up to Lewis.

A defense lawyer for the 21-year-old Lewis says he hopes to talk to prosecutors about a possible plea agreement.