'He's lying:' Defense presents case in Glen Rock police-officer dragging trial

The plan was simple: David Achstetter needed to get to Lancaster County to buy a puppy, so he paid his friends to give him a ride.

They met up in Gaithersburg, Maryland. They stopped in Baltimore to buy drugs. Then, they went to CS Convenience Store in Glen Rock, eventually moving and parking a few blocks away on Water Street.

Jenny Kim, who was in the backseat, wanted to use heroin. Suddenly, she shouted, “Go, go, go!” Achstetter, who was in the front passenger seat, dropped his iPhone on the floor and reached down to get it.

“I noticed there was police officer at my side of the car at the window,” Achstetter said. “He was just there.”

The car took off. It happened very fast. Southern Regional Police Officer Michael Storeman, he said, ran alongside the car, grabbed onto the window and lost his footing. He was dragged.

Achstetter, 38, of Ocean Pines, Maryland, testified on Thursday in his own defense as he stands trial in the York County Court of Common Pleas on two counts of aggravated assault and related offenses. He’s accused of grabbing and pulling the police officer toward the car, but maintains that he never touched him.

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Meanwhile, Storeman has testified that he was grabbed when he started to open the front passenger door. It was, he said, "enough to become part of the vehicle." He suffered a broken toe, sprained ankle and scrapes on both his knees.

Storeman had been called to check out a suspicious vehicle.

During cross-examination, Deputy Prosecutor Jonathan Blake asked Achstetter whether he ever wanted to get out of the car. He replied yes.

“So you drove to Lancaster to get a dog?” Blake asked.

Achstetter said he called some friends and considered ordering an Uber, but testified that he was in the middle of the woods. He acknowledged that he was still feeling the effects of the drugs.

He did buy a puppy, a Jack Russell Terrier named Bodhi. The defense showed the jury a picture of the dog. The metadata indicates that it was taken in Lancaster County later that day, Nov. 4, 2015.

Catch up on the trial:

Monday: Glen Rock police officer-dragging: Trial starts for front seat passenger

Tuesday:'I thought I was going to die,' Southern Regional police officer testifies at trial

The defense called two additional witnesses.

Kim, 40, of Germantown, Maryland, exercised her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Prosecutors dropped all the charges against her, but could technically refile them.

Roberto Tabares, who was the driver, said Achstetter never grabbed the officer.

“The actions of Officer Storeman is what ultimately resulted in the other crimes we’re being charged with, besides the fleeing and eluding,” Tabares said. “I guess he had to make up that lie to support his story and he’s implicating an innocent man, at least of that charge of grabbing.”

Tabares, 40, of Rockville, Maryland, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person in exchange for a sentence of 11 1/2 to 23 months in York County Prison — plus two years on probation. He’s since been released.

Joe Gothie, Achstetter’s attorney, spent a lot of time earlier analyzing surveillance video and pointing out the inconsistencies in prior testimony.

At one point, Gothie asked Tabares what conclusion he could reach about the officer’s story.

“He’s lying,” Tabares said.

Contact Dylan Segelbaum at 717-771-2102.

Check out this photo gallery of York County's most wanted: (The photos and information published are provided by the York County Sheriff's Office. To report information on any of these individuals, call York County Crime Stoppers at 717-755-TIPS.)