We granted certiorari in this case to consider whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the trial court’s admission into evidence of statements made to police officers by the victim and one of the victim’s friends.1 Because the statements were inadmissible under Crawford v. Washington 2 and its progeny, we reverse the Court of Appeals’ judgment. 1. Officer Isin of the Canton Police Department testified that, on September 30, 2001, about 1:30 a.m., he was approached by sixteen-year-old Juan Pasqual, who was bleeding heavily from a cut on his left arm. Officer Isin asked Pasqual what had happened, and Pasqual told him that his roommate, later identified as the appellant, Leonardo Cuyuch, had cut him. Officer Isin asked Pasqual where he lived and if his roommate was still home. Pasqual told Isin that he lived at 280 Scott Mill Road and that his roommate was still home. Officer Isin testified that the address was only about 300 feet from where he first encountered Pasqual.
At that point, another officer, Sergeant Lummus of the Canton Police Department, arrived on the scene as backup. Officer Isin testified that he stayed with Pasqual while Sergeant Lummus drove toward the address given by Pasqual to see if Cuyuch was still there. Officer Isin testified that, as a medical unit arrived and was treating Pasqual, Sergeant Lummus called Isin and told him that he Lummus had arrested Cuyuch. Officer Isin then drove Pasqual to his residence “to identify the person.” According to Isin, when they arrived, Cuyuch was handcuffed and sitting in the back of Sergeant Lummus’s car, and Pasqual identified Cuyuch as the person who had cut him. Sergeant Lummus testified that, as he drove toward the address that Pasqual had given, he saw a man, Francisco Lorenzo, standing on the side of the road yelling that his friend needed help. Sergeant Lummus added that there was a language barrier and that he could not understand who needed help. Lummus then had Lorenzo get in his car and show him where he wanted to go. Lorenzo took him to 280 Scott Mill Road. Officer Lummus added that, when they arrived at the residence, “whatever happened had already happened prior to his arrival,” that Cuyuch was sitting on a sofa, that another person was sitting in a chair across from Cuyuch, and that the two of them were watching television. Officer Lummus also testified that, during his ensuing investigation, the person sitting across from Cuyuch did not appear to be afraid of Cuyuch and that Cuyuch never tried to leave the premises.
