Video: Confession played at murder trial of teen in NYPD arson death
CONEY ISLAND, Brooklyn (WABC) -- A videotaped confession was played Friday at the murder trial of a teenager accused of killing an NYPD officer in an arson fire.
Marcell Dockery is accused of setting a mattress on fire that caused the death of Officer Dennis Guerra, who responded to the Coney Island high-rise with his partner Officer Rosa Rodriguez.
During the confession, taped in 2014, Dockery told police he lit the corner of the mattress on fire because he was bored while waiting for his cousins, who also live in the building, to open their door. He admitted starting the fire, but said he believed he blew out the flames before walking back down the hallway. When he turned back, he said, the entire mattress was burning.
"I was just bored of waiting, so I walked down and I started burning the edge of the mattress," he said. "But I wasn't doing it to, like, do anything wrong. I was just bored."
Dockery said he never meant for the fire to get out of control, and also that he started setting small fires at a young age.
"I didn't mean for the whole thing, I didn't mean for the whole fire to come, just for a second," he said. "I was bored. I just wanted something to do instead of sitting in the hallway."
Surveillance video presented as evidence showed Guerra and Rodriguez in an elevator as they headed up to the 13th floor. Rodriguez described being choked by thick smoke when the doors opened.
"I couldn't see," she said. "We were able to walk into the hallway, but we couldn't breathe well."
Both officers tried to find the emergency exit, but they were unsuccessful.
"I remember holding onto Guerra's shoulder," she said. "I was holding onto him, because I couldn't see. We were calling for help."
And then the court heard Guerra's haunting last words on a radio transmission.
"85! 85!" he yelled, in the final call for help.
Firefighters rescued the pair, but Guerra died from his injuries.
"I can't breath well," Rodriguez said of her current condition. "I can't walk long distances. I can't play with my kids anymore."
Guerra's mother and father left the courtroom visibly shaken by the proceeding.
Rodriguez testified that she'll need to have a lung transplant, as she painfully endures her injuries.
Dockery turned down a plea deal to serve 22 years behind bars. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
