Trooper testifies in Shinnecock boy's death

At first, it wasn't clear to State Police why a little boy stopped breathing one evening in August 2010 at the Shinnecock Indian Reservation, officers testified Thursday at a pretrial hearing in Suffolk County Court.

Trooper Andrew Gargiulo testified that Pedro Jones, the boyfriend of the boy's mother, said 18-month-old Roy Jones III -- no relation -- choked while eating food from Subway.

But after the boy died that night at Southampton Hospital, Gargiulo said the emergency room doctor told him something different.

"She said the baby was covered in bruises," Gargiulo testified during questioning by defense attorney William Ferris. Jones, 21, has been charged with second-degree murder.

After the hearing, which resumes Friday, Suffolk County Court Judge James Hudson will rule whether confessions Jones made to police are admissible at trial and whether police had probable cause to arrest Jones.

Gargiulo said about 30 people from the reservation, angry about the boy's death, gathered in the hospital parking lot.

"There was a fair amount of pressure from members of the community to accuse Mr. Jones," he said. Still, Jones, who is not a Shinnecock, wasn't arrested then.

Jones called 911 after the boy stopped breathing and an ambulance soon arrived. Although Gargiulo said Jones had claimed the boy choked on food, on a tape of the call played in court, Jones said the boy wasn't choking.

Relatives of Jones and the boy stifled tears while listening to the 911 call.

When Gargiulo got to the reservation about five minutes later, he said he couldn't locate the house, so he asked a man walking on the road for directions. That man turned out to be Jones. Gargiulo said Jones didn't say why he left the house after the ambulance arrived.

State Police Investigator Thomas Hughes testified the doctor told him the boy had "been beaten pretty badly."

The doctor pulled back a sheet covering the body, still on a gurney in the emergency room with a breathing tube in his mouth, Hughes said during questioning by prosecutor Raphael Pearl.

"I noticed bruises on the baby, from head to toe," Hughes said.