Something is rotten in the Sheriff's Department of San Bernardino County, CA. Something has been rotten there for a long long time. Far too long.
The story, as detailed in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin goes like this:
Soldier shot by sheriff's deputy stable, wife says
Sheriff refuses to comment on deputies, Air Force officer
CHINO - A U.S. Air Force policeman who just returned from Iraq was shot several times by a sheriff's deputy late Sunday following a high-speed chase. The man, identified by family members as Elio Carrion, 21, was hospitalized at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. Hospital officials would not release his condition, but the man's wife said he underwent surgery and was stable.
"He looks good. He's just very tired right now," said Mariela Carrion, a Louisiana resident who was visiting family in Pomona with her husband.
San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies released few details about what prompted the shooting. Sheriff Gary Penrod said in a prepared statement the department's homicide division was conducting a thorough investigation.
"As with all investigations, the circumstances involved in this shooting will be reviewed," Penrod said. "It would be inappropriate for me to make any additional comments until the investigation is completed."
The incident began about 10 p.m. when deputies saw the driver of a blue Chevrolet Corvette speeding at more than 100 mph through a residential area, deputies said.
Deputies tried to stop the driver, but he didn't pull over, sheriff's officials said. A short chase ensued, ending when the driver, Luis Fernando Escobedo, skidded and slammed into the block wall on Francis Avenue near Benson Avenue in Chino.
Bill Vandie, who lives on Francis, said he was inside when he heard the Corvette and the sheriff's car race down the street.
"I heard the tires screeching like someone slamming on the brakes," he said.
A resident next door to Vandie ran inside and grabbed a video camera shortly after he heard the crash. Neighbors then reported hearing about three gunshots.
Sheriff's officials said while deputies were trying to take Escobedo and Carrion into custody, a deputy shot Carrion.
Deputies said the cameraman voluntarily handed over a copy of the tape to authorities, who planned to review it as part of the investigation.
Paramedics flew Carrion to the hospital. Escobedo, 21, was not shot. Sheriff's officials didn't indicate whether Escobedo or his passenger were injured in the crash.
Deputies booked Escobedo into West Valley Detention Center on suspicion of felony evading.
Roberto Garcia, a friend of the man who filmed the incident, said he didn't see the shooting, but viewed a copy of the video. Garcia was inside the home in the 5500 block of Francis Avenue while his friend stood outside filming.
"The guy laid down on the ground and was arguing with police and the police told him to get up," Garcia said. "When he got up that's when he shot him."
Garcia also said the video showed a deputy kicking the man while he was on the ground.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Robin Haynal said investigators were still reviewing the tape, so the department couldn't respond to Garcia's description of its contents.
"I have not seen the tape, so we're not going to comment on it right now," she said.
The deputy who shot Carrion was placed on leave pending the outcome of the investigation, which is regular procedure, Haynal said.
But the families of Carrion and Escobedo want answers sooner.
Laura Cardona, Escobedo's sister, came to the shooting scene Monday afternoon. She said her brother and Carrion were at a family get-together in Montclair celebrating Carrion's return from Iraq on Sunday night.
Carrion and Escobedo got into the Corvette and had planned to stop at a store and visit a friend. While heading to their friend's house, the chase began, she said.
"We don't understand why they say he was running from the cops because I don't think he was," said Cardona, a Montclair resident.
She said Escobedo was not perfect and once had a warrant for not paying a speeding ticket, but he had nothing serious on his record.
Relatives were baffled as to why Carrion would be shot.
Carrion has served three years in the Air Force's military police and had just returned to his home in Shreveport, La., after serving eight months in Iraq, his wife said.
Mariela Carrion, who has been married to the man two years, said she and Elio came to Pomona to visit family members.
She said she is interested in viewing the videotape because she is seeking an explanation about what happened.
"I actually talked to him, and he said they shot him for no reason," she said.
Notice in this whole article we aren't given the officer's name. This is so typical of this department that is known for its obfuscation and outright manipulations of the system to protect their rogue cops. And how do I know this? A hint, first hand experience. I have both a state and federal case pending against this department and the county that protects them. In March it will be five years that they have jerked us around in court with delay after delay. One of the plaintiffs in the case, one who nearly died of fright the day of our incident, has, in fact, now died at the age of 94. Yes, you read right, these no good bastards broke into a 90 year old woman's home and frightened her so badly she stopped breathing and had to be revived. In the ensuing five year period, we have yet to discover why they broke into the home in the first place. When I stepped in to try to protect my Mother from these animals, I was roughed up badly and had my back broken as well as having the bone in my left arm cracked and my shoulder dislocated. It is my opinion and that of another witness, that these guys were in the midst of steroid rage, but I have no actual proof of it.
All I know is that the modus operandi of this department is to circle the wagons, intimidate anyone who dares blow the whistle on one of their own. They will stop at nothing, including midnight visits designed to frighten, where they prowl around the premises and shine flashlights in bedroom windows, they make harassing phone calls and threats. It got so bad for us, once they knew we'd hired an attorney and intended to file suit, that I had to move my Mother out of her home of twenty-nine years and into a home in another county. When I tried to make a formal complaint through department channels, I was told to report in person to a local substation and that if I brought my attorney, he would be arrested. And the foul language and slurs used to couch their threats were in themselves frightening as well as disgusting. For example, one deputy said to us, "I know your type, your the type of bitches who blame everything in your f**king lousy loser lives on the cops. You f**king liars." And when the emergency room doctor called for an investigator to come (per the law) to take photographs of my bruised and broken body, he was told "no" and informed that if I was "really" injured I could come into the sheriff's office and prove it. To the doctors credit, he found a Polaroid camera and took the pictures himself and had the attending nurse witness them.
And if you think there was even a smidgen of a reason for being there, I can assure you there was not. My Mother had a stellar reputation in her community as a community leader, a former Girl Scout executive and a woman whose worst sin in life was perhaps a parking ticket some time in her previous 90 years. She had suffered a stroke and was also recovering from hip surgery at the time of the invasion. Fortunately she wasn't home alone or they probably would have left her for dead after she stopped breathing from her fright. And fortunately for all of us, there were three women in the home that morning, so there are still two of us left to give witness to these animals and their disgusting behavior.
Now, will we ever hear the true story of what happened in this shooting? There is hope, if it was witnessed and video taped. And hopefully, the military will step in too. Let's hope that videographer had sense enough to make a copy before handing the tape over or the family may find out that the original has been misplaced. These are snakes of the highest order, not to be trusted. In fact, I would bet my bottom dollar their story of the 100 mph Corvette is bogus. Scum, scum, scum, the whole lot of them.
And one last question, if the shooting victim was stable at the hospital after surgery, why is this being handled by homicide investigators?
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UPDATE:
Shepherd Smith of the Fox Report noon just reported that the FBI is now investigating on civil liberty violation grounds. There was a short snip of the video clip, but on my TV, the video was so dark, it was impossible to see the faces. He did not have the story correct, as he implied the shooting victim was the driver of the Corvette, when initial stories indicate the victim was a passenger.
I am very interested in following this story and I'm asking any reader who might see followups in their local media to send me a copy or a link. You can note it in comments here or directly to me in an email.
UPDATE [emphasis added]:
FBI begins probe of U.S. airman's shooting in Chino
FBI officials began an investigation Tuesday into possible civil rights violations of an airman who was shot by a sheriff's deputy following a high-speed chase in north Chino.
Elio Carrion, 21, in an undated family photo. The probe was launched at the request of the U.S. Attorney's Office, due to the media attention of the incident, said spokesman Thom Mrozek.
"With some frequency we ask the FBI to look into incidents in which there are potential civil rights violations," Mrozek said. "It is a very low threshold to ask the FBI to look into an incident."
Air Force military policeman Elio Carrion, 21, was a passenger in a Corvette that crashed into a wall along Francis Street near Benson Avenue in Chino about 10 p.m. Sunday. He had just returned from serving about eight months in Iraq.
San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies began chasing the driver, 21-year-old Luis Fernando Escobedo, after he was spotted driving more than 100 mph through a residential neighborhood, sheriff's officials said. While trying to take Escobedo and Carrion into custody, a deputy shot Carrion three times.
A neighbor filmed the incident and the videotape was viewed by members of the San Bernardino Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
"I saw the video of Sunday night's shooting for the first time this afternoon, and I found the images very disturbing," said Supervisor Gary Ovitt.
"It does not appear that the passenger had done anything to provoke the shooting, so I can understand why people are demanding answers."
Ovitt added that he considered it important to reserve judgment until the investigation was completed.
Escobedo was booked into West Valley Detention Center on suspicion of felony evading on Sunday but as of late Tuesday evening had not yet been charged with any crime.
His family members waited in the parking lot of the jail in anticipation of him being released Tuesday night. San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Carasco said he had not received the sheriff's report on Escobedo, so no charges had been filed.
Carrion remained hospitalized at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center on Tuesday, but his condition was not known. Escobedo's sister, Vanessa, said Carrion is "doing fine, but he's tired." She was not sure when he would be released from the hospital.
FBI officials said there is no specific time frame in which their investigations into such incidents are completed, said Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman.
"Reports will be sent back to Washington and the determination is made whether or not further investigation and or prosecution is warranted," she said.
While the Sheriff's Department continued its investigation, county officials expressed their concerns about the incident.
Ovitt spoke to reporters from his San Bernardino office Tuesday afternoon, saying he had the utmost confidence in Sheriff Gary Penrod and his department.
Penrod told Ovitt an expert is looking at the video, but he didn't think the deputy involved in the shooting had been interviewed.
"A crash and not knowing what he was getting into in a dark situation, all of these things I'm sure played in. I'm sure he was frightened, and I'm sure the adrenaline was really pumping through him," Ovitt said. Jose Ruiz, the Chino man who videotaped the incident, said he is also disturbed by what he saw Sunday night.
He ran outside his home with a video camera with the intent of filming the aftermath of a car crash late Sunday.
What unfolded instead is something he says has kept him awake and uneasy.
"I've never seen that in my life. I haven't slept in more than two days. My daughter hasn't gone to school in two days. I haven't gone to work in two days," he said.
Ruiz played a copy of the video tape to reporters at his Chino home Tuesday.
The tape, which is dark and only shows a silhouette of the deputy and Carrion on the ground, does capture some dialogue between Carrion and the deputy.
"He said, 'I'm in the military. Believe me, I don't have a gun,' " Ruiz recalled him saying.
The deputy, with his gun drawn, said, "All right, get up, get up."
As the man began to rise with his back facing the deputy, the deputy fired three shots. The man fell back to the ground and began screaming in pain.
The deputy then called on his radio, "Shots fired, shots fired." [Was he trying to imply that someone was shooting at him?]
Ruiz said he immediately turned a tape over to the Sheriff's Department after the incident, but he has retained an attorney because of incidents that have happened since then.
Luis Carrillo, a South Pasadena attorney, said he's helping Ruiz to make sure his rights are not violated. Carrillo said over a 12-hour period after the video tape was handed over to deputies, Ruiz was pulled over three times by officers.
"His whole vehicle gets searched. It was totally unnecessary," Carrillo said.
Wow! They've started their intimidations already and with the videographer witness. My prayers go out to him and his family. God only knows what some of those scumbags might do at this point to CYA one of their own.
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LATE UPDATE:
Story covered on Fox's "Hannity & Combs" - the video clip was a little easier to see than the one I saw earlier and you could hear what was being said, although it isn't exactly clear who is speaking. It is clear that the officer said "Get up" and as Airman Carrion was starting to rise, the officer emptied 3 shots into Carrion while Carrion's back was to the officer.
Promo for MSNBC's Tucker Carlson says the witness will be a guest
UPDATE:
Airman recently back from Iraq shot by deputy in Chino
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
(01-31) 15:53 PST Chino, Calif. (AP) --
A home video released Tuesday shows a sheriff's deputy shooting a man as he apparently heeds an order to get up off the ground after a car chase.
The FBI is investigating possible civil rights violations in the shooting, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles.
KTLA-TV aired a 40-second clip it said came from a Chino resident who videotaped Sunday night's shooting in front of his house. The shooting followed a short 100-mph car chase.
While he was on the ground, the man appeared to tell the deputy he was in the military and was unarmed.
Senior Airman Elio Carrion, 21, who recently returned from Iraq, was listed in good condition at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.
His father-in-law, Ernesto Paz, told KTLA-TV that Carrion was shot three times in the chest, ribs and leg.
There was only one deputy on the scene, the man who identified himself as the videographer told The Associated Press in a telephone interview conducted in Spanish.
"Why did you shoot me if you told me to stand up?" the man quoted Carrion as saying. The man identified himself only as Jose Luis, 38, declining to provide his last name.
Carrion was a passenger in a Corvette that crashed into a fence following the brief chase, authorities said.
Officials with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department released few details about the incident. Investigators took the original tape, declining to release it to the public or describe what it shows.
The deputy, whose name has not been released, was placed on paid administrative leave, which is routine procedure in officer-involved shootings.
"As with all investigations, the circumstances involved in this shooting will be reviewed," Sheriff Gary Penrod said in a statement Monday. "It would be inappropriate for me to make any additional comments until the investigation is completed."
A department spokeswoman did not immediately return a telephone message or a page on Tuesday.
A woman who answered the telephone at the Montclair home of Carrion's parents said his parents were headed to the hospital and nobody at the residence wanted to talk.
The incident began with a deputy trying to stop and then chasing a Corvette through a neighborhood, authorities said. The car skidded and slammed into a block wall in a middle class neighborhood of large, single-story homes with tile roofs.
The next seconds on a dark and grainy videotape show Carrion on the ground next to his car, talking to a silhouetted officer who is pointing a gun at him. Carrion is supporting himself on one arm and his face is brightly lit by the officer's flashlight.
There is some hard-to-hear conversation back and forth, but Carrion appears to be trying to reassure the officer, telling him he is unarmed and in the military. He repeatedly says, "I'm on your side" and adds "we mean you no harm."
At one point, a voice is heard saying several times, "Get up."
Carrion says, "I'm gonna get up." As he rises, the deputy fires at least four shots from close range, and Carrion collapses, crying out in pain.
"Shots fired! Shots fired!" someone shouts.
A report on KTLA showed five numbered cones on the ground, apparently placed by investigators to indicate where shell casings were found — a common practice in shooting investigations.
Joanne Scholten, who lives with her husband across the street from where the shooting occurred, said she rushed outside when she heard a siren and screeching brakes. She said a sheriff's deputy was yelling obscenities at the airman and ordering him to get out of the car.
She said she heard the deputy tell the man to stand up and then shots rang out.
"It seemed he lost his cool," Scholten said of the deputy. "We were confused about why (he) did that."
Carrion has not been charged with a crime, although the incident remained under investigation, according to sheriff's spokeswoman Robin Haynal. The driver of the Corvette, identified by authorities as 21-year-old Luis Fernando Escobedo, was arrested for investigation of felony evading and was taken to the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.
Carrion's 19-year-old wife, Mariela, told reporters that when her husband came out of surgery Monday afternoon, he said, "'They shot me for no reason.'"
She said Carrion and Escobedo were at a party at the home of Carrion's parents when they left to go to the store. Carrion was supposed to have returned Wednesday to his unit, the 2nd Security Forces Squadron, at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La.
Air Force spokesman Lt. Frank Hartnett said Carrion worked as a security officer at the base. Carrion joined the Air Force in January 2003 and recently returned from a six-month tour in Iraq, Hartnett said.
In the video clip I saw on TV, you could clearly hear a bystander say, "you told him to get up" after the shots were fired. You could also here the foul language of the officer screaming at Carrion as he lay on the ground bleeding, which is what we experienced from officers from this same division. My Mother, before she passed away, called them "gutter mouth sadists."
Unbelievable.
Except, I believe it.
Posted by: Russ | 02 February 2006 at 04:49 PM
No surprise here. The cops are a bunch of clowns.
Posted by: Big Walt | 03 February 2006 at 10:27 AM
>>The deputy then called on his radio, "Shots fired, shots fired." [Was he trying to imply that someone was shooting at him?]
This is simply standard procedure. It lets other officers know that, when they arrive to give assistance, there may be bullets flying. It doesn't imply anything in particular.
This had nothing to do with whether or not the officer was right, I just thought I'd help clear that up.
Posted by: Phineas Cooper | 06 February 2006 at 10:42 PM
Excuse Me, I am a recently retired CHP officer, This felony
stop was NOT done correctly.
True, I was Not there, However,
the way the deputy appears to be handling the arrest completly
breaks ALL law enforcment standards. Not only that, At first review, It appears to be an Execution.
Posted by: David White | 08 February 2006 at 08:36 AM