LOS ANGELES -- Four black good samaritans testified Thursday they rushed to Reginald Denny's aid after seeing televised reports of the white trucker being attacked by an angry black mob at the start of last spring's riots.
Trucker Bobby Green told jurors he hurried to the intersection of Florence and Normandie Avenues and drove Denny's big-rig away while three other South Central Los Angeles residents assisted the badly injured Denny.
Denny's rescuers said they rushed to the scene to help Denny, who had been pulled from his truck, kicked, beaten and struck in the head with a hammer and brick during an attack recorded by television news crews and passersby with video cameras.
Terri Barnett testified that she drove a 'lead car' in front of Denny's rig and tried to clear a path and 'run interference.'
Lei Yuille said she directed Green to Daniel Freeman Hospital in Inglewood, California, while Titus Murphy clutched the outside of Denny's cab.
Yuille said she rushed to help Denny after seeing him attacked on a television news report. 'We are Christians. We need to help him,' Yuille said.
Each of Denny's four rescuers said they didn't see any police or emergency vehicles at the intersection, and believed Denny wouldn't have been able to make it to the hospital on his own.
Dr. Paul Toffel, a reconstructive surgeon, also testified Thursday that Denny could have died from injuries suffered in the brutal attack.
Toffel said another doctor told him he thought 'this was one of the worst injuries he had ever seen' from an assault.
Denny was hospitalized 33 days with a broken jaw, shattered left eye socket, shattered nose, bridge and sinus area, compound head fracture and nearly 100 broken bones.
When shown videotapes and still photos of Denny's beating, three of Denny's rescuers said they remembered seeing Denny being struck with a brick by a man who danced in glee around the badly beaten trucker. Prosecutors contend that man was Damian 'Football' Williams, one of two men on trial in Superior Court for allegedly attacking Denny.
But none of the four prosecution witnesses could identify Williams, 20, or his co-defendant, Henry 'Kiki' Watson, 28.
Williams and Watson are charged in the beating of Denny and seven other people in the early hours of the riots, which lasted three days, caused $2 billion in damage and left more than 50 people dead. Williams and Watson could face life in prison if convicted.
Black activists have claimed that the so-called Denny case is similar to the 1991 videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King by four white Los Angeles police officers. They claim Williams and Watson are being charged with harsher crimes than the officers because they are black.
Prosecutors, however, say the two cases are not similar and the harsher charges are justified.
Two of the officers, Sgt. Stacey Koon and Officer Laurence Powell, were sentenced in federal court to 2 1/2 years in prison for violating King's civil rights. The other two officers were acquitted.
The acquittals of the four officers in state court before the federal convictions sparked the Los Angeles riots.
