A police officer who responded to a 2016 domestic violence call involving Johnny Depp and Amber Heard said in testimony presented Wednesday that he liked his work, but did not know hers.
“I guess I liked a couple of his movies,” LAPD Officer William Gatlin said in a previously recorded 2021 video deposition played for jurors in court. “I wasn't rushing out to see them or anything... I was aware there was an actress by the name of Amber Heard, but I was not totally familiar with her work.”
Upon hearing Gatlin’s statement, one of Depp’s attorneys could be seen patting Depp—who was wearing sunglasses in court—on the arm as the actor laughed.
ADVERTISEMENT
Gatlin was the third officer to offer a recorded deposition about the May 21, 2016, incident amid Depp’s $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard. The cop said he concluded the two had a “verbal argument” based on information he garnered from two officers who arrived at the Eastern Columbia Building in L.A. before he did, and said that there was no evidence of domestic violence.
Jurors were shown body-camera footage from Gatlin knocking on the door of a penthouse, where a woman was heard saying that “other officers came by” and that there was no ongoing incident. A male then insisted that Depp was no longer at the apartment.
CCTV footage played in court Wednesday showed Depp and at least two security guards entering an elevator on the night of the incident, where the hat-clad actor could be seen pacing around and taking off his jacket to reveal a black t-shirt.
“He looked agitated... his body language was different than before,” Alejandro Romero, the front-desk manager of the Eastern Colombia Building, said in a video deposition about the tape. “This is the first time I’ve seen him like this.”
It was not immediately clear whose call 911 call resulted in Gatlin responding to the LA apartment building, but he noted that it seemed to come from New York.
“Based on our investigation, it appeared as if she was not [a victim of domestic abuse],” Gatlin said of Heard. He explained that conclusion was reached when Heard declined “to give any statement about what had occurred... and we did not observe any visible or verifiable injuries to her.”
Gatlin, however, insisted that he did not know whether Depp in fact may have committed an act of domestic violence “because I was not there when the incident occurred.”
The call was made just days before Heard filed for divorce and sought a temporary restraining order against Depp. Both of the actors have accused each other of abuse, claims that are at the center of the lawsuit about whether Heard defamed Depp when she described herself as a domestic violence survivor in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed.
Heard has long accused Depp of abuse, including one incident where Depp allegedly threw a phone at her that left her with a bruised face. In November 2020, a London judge found that there was “overwhelming evidence” that Depp had assaulted Heard repeatedly throughout their marriage, and she was “in fear of her life.”
On the stand, Depp has accused Heard of verbal and physical violence, including an infamous 2015 incident where the actress allegedly threw a vodka bottle that severed his fingertip. But his version of events was undercut when Depp appeared to say on audio played in court that he had cut his own finger.
Jurors have been tasked with deciding whether Heard acted with “actual malice” when she wrote the Post piece—meaning she knew the contents were false—or that the actress published the piece with “reckless disregard” for the truth. The jury will also be asked to review some issues raised in Heard’s 2020 countersuit against Depp.
