'it was either him or the cop': Woman with Nassau deputy killer testifies at sentencing
Jurors this week have seen Nassau County Deputy Joshua Moyers’ dash cam video the night he was shot, autopsy photos and countless law enforcement professionals testifying for the prosecution.
But on Day 1 of the sentencing phase for Patrick McDowell, the Jacksonville man who pleaded guilty to killing Moyers during a traffic stop that night, much of the attention was on Noelle Gale. She was the woman with McDowell when the two of them got pulled over and witnessed him pulling the trigger, prompting a massive manhunt.
Gale testified she knew him through an ex-boyfriend who was in jail and she also bought drugs from him. She said she had only known him a couple of months but was not in a romantic relationship with him.
On Sept. 23, 2021, the night of the shooting, she said McDowell contacted her to hang out and do drugs. Her 4-year-old daughter was with the father for the weekend, so she said yes.
She said she had already taken Xanax when McDowell picked her up in Jacksonville in the van that he had previously told her was stolen. They went to a Big Lots on San Pablo Road and met behind the store to buy drugs from one of his associates. She used a cash app to buy methamphetamine and the two indulged right there in the van at the Big Lots.
They then drove toward the Florida/Georgia line to go trail riding and “shoot off guns.” She saw him with guns before but said she had never shot guns with him.
Eventually they needed gas so stopped at several stations until they found one open close to midnight off U.S. 301 in the Callahan area. She said she went inside to use the bathroom and also used the cash app to pay for the gas. Gale testified they did more meth there in the parking lot.
When they left, “He indicated to me that there was a cop behind us and that he thought the cop could possibly be calling for backup and that he didn’t want to go back to jail” because he was on probation.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Mark Caliel asked what did he say he was going to do.
“Run from the cop," Gale responded. “I told him it was not a good idea and that I did not want him to run.” She said she was scared and didn’t want to get in more trouble.
When the deputy’s lights went on, McDowell initially kept driving until pulling over on another road. She said she didn’t see any guns at this point. When the deputy approached and asked for their identifications, McDowell didn’t provide his real name.
After getting on his radio, Moyers asked McDowell to step out of the vehicle.
“He reached behind him, pulled out a gun and shot the officer,” Gale said with almost no emotion, often having to be asked to speak up. “Twice. At the window, and then he reached over when the officer fell to the ground and shot him again.”
As he was speeding away, Gale said she asked why did he do that. “He told me that it was either him or the cop. I was freaking out, and he just kept telling me that he was sorry. I was yelling at him.”
When he realized they were at a dead end, she said they got out of the van and McDowell grabbed something out of the back. He grabbed her arm and they started running in a wooded area and hid under what looked like a trailer.
“Why did you go with him?” Caliel asked.
“I guess out of shock,” Gale said. “He grabbed my arm. I don’t know where I was. I was in the middle of nowhere.”
She told him “I wanted to go back, I have a daughter at home. I told him that I would give the police his fake name, pretty much anything so he would let me go back.”
When he let her go, “I tried to find my way back,” she said, and called 911. The prosecution played that 911 call, and jurors heard her attempting to tell the dispatcher what happened and hyperventilating. The dispatcher even sounded taken aback when she said her friend “shot a cop.”
After staying on the phone, deputies soon arrived and took her into custody.
During cross-examination, Chief Assistant Public Defender Alan Chipperfield confirmed with Gale that the drugs were her idea and it was her money.
He asked her several questions about seeing a difference in behavior in McDowell when he was using meth. He was more wired and made bad decisions, would be up for days at a time and wouldn’t sleep, he got paranoid that people were after him, he was erratic and illogical. She methodically replied “Yes” each time.
“You would agree that riding in a stolen van at night with guns in the van, drugs in the van with the plan to drive out and shoot guns was an illogical plan?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said.
Chipperfield: “But at that time on that night, it seemed OK to you?”
Gale: “Yes.”
Chipperfield: “If you hadn’t been on meth, you would recognize that as very illogical?”
Gale: “Yes.”
Chipperfield: ”When you use meth, it speeds up your thoughts, doesn’t it?”
Gale: “Yes.”
Chipperfield: “And it jumbles your thoughts.”
Gale: “Yes.”
He ended by noting a month before this happened, she was in a detox program to try to get off drugs.
Gale, who was not charged in the case, said she relapsed that night. She said she’s been sober two years now.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Witness describes drug-filled night when Nassau County deputy was shot
