The partner of a state trooper who was shot and killed after a traffic chase in Cambria County last year told a jury Monday that the accused gunman wrecked his Jeep, stepped out of his vehicle and immediately started shooting at police. Trooper Brian Lampel, of the Ebensburg barracks, testified that he yelled at least twice for the gunman, Mark Leach, to surrender after seeing him crash his disabled vehicle into a utility pole across the street from the courthouse in Ebensburg. Lampel said his partner, Trooper Joseph Sepp, and he had been informed via police radio before the shootout on Nov. 9, 2002, that authorities thought Leach was carrying a weapon as he fled a traffic stop, so Lampel said he got out of the police cruiser with his gun drawn. "Show me your hands! Show me your hands!" Lampel's voice boomed in the courtroom of Judge Norman Krumenacker yesterday. District Attorney David J. Tulowitzki had Lampel demonstrate to jurors how he took a defensive position outside the police cruiser after seeing Leach wreck his vehicle and how he yelled at Leach to surrender. He also had the officer demonstrate how Leach stepped from his vehicle, turned around, and started firing at police. "I got no response from him (Leach). He then exited the Jeep and pivoted around toward us, and I saw a silver handgun in his hand. ... I knew that Trooper Sepp and I were in imminent danger," Lampel said. Lampel said he saw a "bright orange" muzzle flash out of Leach's right hand. Lampel said he immediately returned fire. Lampel testified in the fifth day of the death penalty case against Leach, 46, of New Germany. Leach is on trial for first-degree murder for killing Sepp in the shootout. The trooper said he initially thought he had fired his weapon only "four or five times," but when he checked his gun later, he found he had fired 11 times. Lampel did not immediately realize his partner, Sepp, was mortally wounded during the gunfight. Sepp died a day later at Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown of a single gunshot wound to his head. Lampel testified that after Leach fell to the ground next to his Jeep, he assisted Cresson Township Patrolman Raymond Closson in handcuffing him. "As I was handcuffing him, I still heard the siren from our car. I heard then there was an officer down," an emotional Lampel told jurors. Lampel said he left Leach with other officers and ran back toward the state police cruiser. He said Sepp was still seated in the driver's side. "I saw Joe was shot in the head. I ran back around to the passenger side, where I was sitting before, and got on the radio to yell Joe was hit ... to get an ambulance. "I told Joe, "Don't die. Hold on ... help was on the way," Lampel said. As Lampel recalled the events of that early morning, Sepp's widow, Jenny, could be heard weeping from a second-floor balcony seat in the courtroom. Sepp, a 10-year state police veteran, and his wife have three young children. Lampel's testimony yesterday contradicted a defense theory that police fired first. Leach's attorney, Thomas Dickey, of Altoona, repeatedly has quizzed the dozen policemen who testified before Lampel whether they knew who fired the first shots. Dickey's cross-examination of Lampel centered on the officer's statements that he did not see Leach talking immediately after the shooting. Several policemen have testified that Leach continued to act belligerent toward them after the shooting. Some officers told jurors that Leach swore at them and said he hoped Sepp would die. Five paramedics testified yesterday that Leach also was belligerent toward them as they attempted to treat him for several gunshot wounds. Ebensburg paramedic Ann Schilling said although Leach was handcuffed, "he was combative" and was worried about losing his driver's license and what his mother would think of the incident. "He became belligerent, thrashing around, yelling, 'Get the (expletive) away from me. ... I just want to die,'" Schilling said. Emergency medical technician Kevin Kuhn testified that Leach was yelling profanities throughout the treatment and his transfer to a medical helicopter. "He told me, 'My family is going to hate me,' and he was also worried about losing his (driver's license)," Kuhn said. Ambulance driver Earl Hockenberry said he overheard Leach urging paramedics to let him die "because they're going to kill me anyway." The trial continues this morning.

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