Bemis v. Edwards
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
45 F.3d 1369 (9th Cir. 1995)
Ronald Bemis (plaintiff) sued police officers, including Tim Edwards (defendant), and the City of Bend for using excessive force against him outside the home of Gary Estep. Bemis sought to admit a 911 recording in which Estep told a dispatcher, "there's a cop beating the shit out of the guy now," but Estep also admitted on the same call that he could not personally see what was happening outside and was at one point relaying what someone else in the room was saying. Estep did not testify at trial. The district court excluded the statement because Bemis had not shown Estep had personal knowledge of the events, and Bemis appealed.
Whether a declarant's statement describing a startling event, offered as an excited utterance or present-sense impression, is admissible without a showing that the declarant had personal knowledge of the event.