Trial begins for man accused of shooting Philly cop

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia Police Officer Edward Davies spent more than a month in the hospital after being shot during a traffic stop in August of 2013.

Today the man who allegedly pulled the trigger went on trial.

Prosecutors say 31-year-old Eric Torres tried to kill Officer Davies during a struggle outside a convenience store.

Officer Davies underwent several surgeries and lost a kidney following the attack.

The shooting went down inside a corner mini-market in Feltonville, where Torres was wrestling with four officers, including Davies.

They were struggling with him after he allegedly fled from a car stop at 5th Street and Allegheny Avenue, and wrecked his BMW.

Assistant District Attorney Lou Tumalo says, "He fled a traffic stop, crashed his vehicle, took off from that vehicle into a store where he shot Officer Davies."

Officer Davies lost a kidney during his struggle to survive a close range stomach wound from a Glock .45 handgun.

He spent three weeks in a medically induced coma, and he has still not been able to return to work.

In opening statements the defense told the jury of nine women and three men that Torres did not fire the weapon. That it was an accident that occurred as his scared client resisted arrest.

However, Tumalo says, "That firearm has been tested. That firearm has safety triggers. All those safety features were working properly. The only way that gun fired is if you apply six and a half pounds of pressure to that trigger."

Torres faces charges of attempted murder, assaulting three other cops, and charges of drug dealing.

"Inside his house and inside of his car he had multiple - hundreds of packets of heroin," Tumalo said.

Torres' legal team has refused comment to Action News. They are taking the reasonable doubt defense, they told the jury this morning.

The case could be in the jury's hands in about a week.