Opinion ID: 1451379
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Narration of the Police Chase Videos.

Text: Appellant's next argument, which is unpreserved, is that the trial court should not have allowed two police officers to narrate videos played during their trial testimony  the substance of the videos having been captured from cameras mounted in their cruisers depicting the highspeed pursuit of Appellant as he attempted to flee. Appellant alleges that by supplementing the playing of the video tapes at court with narrative testimony his due process rights were denied and thus his conviction must be reversed. We disagree. At trial, police officer Michael Fleming was called as a witness to testify. During his testimony, a video was played showing the pursuit of Appellant as he attempted to flee from officers after being stopped. In large part, Fleming's testimony consisted of narrative responses to the Commonwealth's questions, with the purpose of describing the images on the video from his perspective as they happened. Additionally, Fleming answered questions concerning the location of the chase, what various symbols which appeared on the cruiser's in-car camera meant, and what procedures the officer was employing to stop Appellant's vehicle. Likewise, Officer Bradley Sapp testified in much the same manner. However, the focus of Sapp's testimony was from the perspective of the video obtained from his cruiser's camera and events relevant to his pursuit. The substance of his testimony highlighted a bumper to bumper incident, which was not on the video tape, and followed a similar question and answer format describing the events taking place on the video. It is significant to note, however, that every statement by both Fleming and Sapp was in direct response to a question asked by the Commonwealth and was describing the actions as they perceived them at the time of the chase. Appellant points out that no Kentucky case law directly addresses whether an officer can narrate audible video tapes. However, we find that this Court's prior rulings concerning crime scene videos and inaudible tapes lend guidance to the issue. In Mills v. Commonwealth, 996 S.W.2d 473 (Ky.1999), we addressed the issue of whether a police officer's narrative testimony during the playing of a crime scene video was improper lay testimony. We determined, in Mills , that the proper query for such narrative testimony was whether it complied with KRE 701 and KRE 602. KRE 701 limits testimony by a witness not testifying as an expert to matters (a) [r]ationally based on the perception of the witness, and (b) [h]elpful to a clear understanding of the witness' testimony or the determination of a fact in issue. Moreover, KRE 602 further refines the scope of permissible lay opinion testimony, limiting it to matters of which the witness has personal knowledge. Thus, reading these two requirements in conjunction, we determined that the narration of the video was proper because it comprised opinions and inferences that were rationally based on [the officer's] own perceptions of which he had personal knowledge and was helpful to the jury in evaluating the images displayed on the videotape. Mills, 996 S.W.2d at 488. Additionally, we have allowed narrative testimony from in court witnesses providing simultaneous commentary of crime scene video, see Milburn v. Commonwealth, 788 S.W.2d 253, 257 (Ky.1989), whereas we have found error in pre-recorded narrative video when such narration contained inadmissible hearsay. See Fields v. Commonwealth, 12 S.W.3d 275, 280 (Ky.2000). Thus, the common thread uniting our decisions on narrative-style testimony of audio and video evidence is that such testimony, like any other, must comport with the rules of evidence. Therefore, the fulcrum of the matter upon which this issue turns, is whether the witness has testified from personal knowledge and rational observation of events perceived and whether such information is helpful to the jury. In short, does the testimony comply with the rules of evidence? While a witness may proffer narrative testimony within the permissible confines of the rules of evidence, we have held he may not interpret audio or video evidence, as such testimony invades the province of the jury, whose job is to make determinations of fact based upon the evidence. See Gordon v. Commonwealth, 916 S.W.2d 176, 180 (Ky.1995) (finding error when witness was allowed to offer testimony interpreting a poor quality audio tape of an undercover drug buy that was substantially inaudible, rather than simply testifying as to his recollection). Turning to the complained-of testimony at hand, Appellant has made no specific protest as to any particular portions of Officer Fleming or Officer Sapp's testimony. Here, the videos in question depicted the substance of a high-speed police chase, as captured from the in-car cameras. It is completely reasonable to conclude that the officers' testimony was not only beneficial to the jury in discerning what was happening on the video, but was in all likelihood necessary. See Mills, 996 S.W.2d at 488. Moreover, and importantly, the officers' testimony did not interpret the video. Cf. Gordon, 916 S.W.2d at 180. While the testimony was narrative in the sense that it sequentially followed the chronology of the tape, all statements were responsive in nature and were in answer to the Commonwealth's questions. Narrative testimony is not necessarily interpretive testimony per se. Here, the testimony was explicative of the officers' perception of the events occurring on the video as they perceived them during the police chase and provided further elucidation of matters of police procedure, etc., which were not readily identifiable from the video standing on its own. Thus, having reviewed the record and determined that the testimony was proper lay opinion testimony which was beneficial to the jury, we find no palpable error.