NEW YORK, May 20 (AFP) - A second New York cop Thursday testified against a fellow officer accused of beating and sodomizing a Haitian immigrant in a precinct bathroom, catching the defendant's lawyer by surprise. Officer Michael Shoer pointed in court Thursday to Justin Volpe and told how his co-worker had brandished a stick close to his face claiming it was soiled with "human excrement." Shoer's testimony appears to dovetail with Wednesday's statement from Sergeant Kenneth Wernick, who said Volpe took him to a precinct bathroom to show him the stick he had allegedly used to attack Louima, which Volpe also brandished later in front of other fellow officers outside the police station. Wernick also said Volpe had told him he had verbally threatened to kill the suspect if he disclosed the attack. The stick was allegedly used to sodomize Abner Louima, a black Haitian immigrant Volpe and three other white officers had arrested August 9, 1997, outside a nightclub where a fight had broken out. Luima's alleged beating and sexual assault put him in hospital with a perforated rectum and bladder, triggering outrage among the city's black population as well as legal charges against Volpe and three of his colleagues, all of whom are white. Officers Volpe, Charles Schwarz, Thomas Bruder and Thomas Wiese are charged with beating Louima in a squad car after his arrest. Volpe is also charged with sodomizing Louima, and Schwarz of holding the suspect down during the bathroom attack. If convicted Volpe and Schwarz could face up to life in prison, while for the squad car beating, the maximum penalty is 10 years in prison. Louima is also seeking 100 million dollars in damages from the city in a civil suit. The sight of two cops Wednesday and Thursday breaking the police's traditional code of silence was unexpected for Volpe's attorney Marvyn Kornberg, who in turn surprised the court by declining to cross-examine the witnesses. Kornberg admitted the testimony came as "somewhat of a surprise," but said his decision not to cross-examine the witnesses was due to a "change of tactics," without elaborating. The sight of Kornberg backing off also caught the court's attention, as the defense lawyer had made it a point to try to demolish the credibility of every defense witness in the three weeks since the trial began at the Brooklyn Federal Court. The surprise witnesses also seem to have caused some rift among the defense lawyers. Schwarz' lawyer Stephen Worth sought Thursday to distance his client from the charges against Volpe. Two nurses who work at the hospital where Louima was taken for treatment after his alleged attack at Brooklyn's 70th Precinct also testified Thursday that the Haitian had told them a cop had sodomized him and threatened his life. A doctor at the hospital in Brooklyn's Coney Island explained in detail to the jury Louima's internal lesions when he was treated. After the testimonies, US District Court Judge Eugene Nickerson, who is presiding over the case, adjourned court until Monday.  