BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — For the first time since her early June arrest, Deyanna Davis, 30, appeared in an orange jumpsuit virtually in front of a federal court Judge Tuesday for a felony hearing.
Davis was charged federally with felony weapons charges and at the state level for assault on a police officer, after she rammed through a line of officers dealing with a riot on Bailey Avenue June 1.
Video captured her car driving through the line, and has now gone viral.
The incident left Trooper Ronald Ensminger of the New York State Police seriously injured.
Davis was shot by police as prosecutors say she drove away from the scene. When police caught up to her vehicle, they say they found a loaded 9mm stolen handgun in the back seat. Two other passengers who were with her were also arrested, 25-year-old Semaj Pigram and 28-year-old Walter Stewart.
Prosecutors say at the time, Davis was under the influence of ecstasy and alcohol, and toxicology reports show she had marijuana, cocaine, fentanyl and morphine in her system.
During the course of Tuesday’s hearing, we saw multiple angles of the incident. Prosecutors showed one video of Davis’ SUV parked next to an NFTA Metro Bus on Bailey with the back door opening. The prosecution says it appears some as shooting out of Davis’ car. They say eight 9mm shell casings were recovered from Bailey which matched the 9mm gun that had been stolen from West Seneca earlier this year.
Police also recovered live and spent shell casings from the back of Davis’ car and one on the roof.
They say in a statement to police, Davis claimed to have been shot before she ran through the police and panicked, but prosecutors showed us a reconstructed shooting scene that ruffles that statement.
The prosecution believes Davis was trying to help the passenger in the back, Semaj Pigram avoid the police.
Davis’ legal team claims she was just giving the men a ride to the store and she barely knew them. Her lawyers also say Davis was boxed in by cars on Bailey, and there were rubber bullets and tear gas flying around. The defense says she didn’t know the back passenger had a weapon and was not part of the plan to fire off eight rounds.
She is due in Buffalo City Court Wednesday.
