Previous posts HERE, HERE and HERE
As far as I know there is still no arrest of the Deputy who shot Airman Carrion, although according to the second article below, the prosecutors have the case from the investigators. There was no such delay in the arrest of the man who videotaped the incident. He was arrested within a couple of days and still remains in jail.
The first article concerns the attempt by homicide detectives to "interview" Airman Carrion unsuccessfully. Apparently, the word had gone out that Carrion had been released from the hospital, but he wasn't actually released until a day later.
The fact that this Deputy is on "paid vacation" is a travesty.
Both articles from the Daily Bulletin
MONTCLAIR - One day after Elio Carrion was released from the hospital after being shot by a sheriff's deputy last week, two San Bernardino County sheriff's detectives arrived Saturday at the Montclair home of the senior Air Force airman's parents. Luis Carrillo, the attorney representing Carrion who was present at the house, said the two homicide detectives arrived unannounced asking to question Carrion. Carrillo said Carrion was not at the house and he did not know where he was.
Friends and family members arrived at the house throughout the day Saturday but declined to comment. Carrion's wife, Mariela, said Carrion was still at the hospital on Saturday despite word from Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton that he was released Friday night.
Carrion, 21, was shot three times by sheriff's Deputy Ivory J. Webb after a brief high-speed chase that ended when the car, driven by Carrion's friend, Luis Fernando Escobedo, crashed into a wall in Chino last Sunday.
Carrion returned last month from a six-month deployment in Iraq and was visiting relatives when the incident that led to his being shot occurred. Carrion and his wife, both raised in Montclair, live in Shreveport, La., where the airman is based. Carrion was expected to return to the Air Force base Wednesday.
Escobedo was arrested last Sunday night, but was released days later. As of Friday, no charges had been filed against him. Sheriff's spokeswoman Jodi Miller declined to comment further on the case.
According to Carrillo, Carrion suffered three bullet wounds - one bullet had shattered his femur.
On Saturday, when detectives Tony Shenton and Robert Alexander arrived at the Montclair residence, Carrillo had asked whether Webb was being considered a suspect. According to Carrillo, the detectives would not answer the question and said an investigation is under way.
"There is no justice in San Bernardino (County)," said Carrillo, after the detectives finished their 20-minute visit. "In other cases, the person would be arrested. In this case, the deputy is on a paid vacation."
Carrillo said Webb should be arrested not just for assault with a deadly weapon but because he is a threat to public safety.
According to Carrillo, Carrion's relatives have been calling Shenton and Alexander in the past few days for information
on the investigation, but their calls were not returned. Carrillo also said the Sheriff's Department had taken Carrion's cell phone and his military identification on the night of the shooting but they have not been returned.Miller would not comment on the detectives' visit to the home or details of the investigation.
On Saturday, Mariela, 19, said her husband was in good condition but the whole family has been extremely stressed. She said that because her husband was trained in the Air Force, he would have known how to conduct himself on the night of the shooting and would never have resisted arrest.
"We want (Webb) to pay for it. We want him to go to jail," Mariela said.
Webb's father, Ivory John Webb Sr., said he believes his son fired the shots because he felt threatened. In a videotape shot by a nearby resident, Carrion appeared to be on the ground when a voice demanded him to "get up." According to the deputy's father, Webb was in fact saying "shut up" and felt his life was in danger when Carrion proceeded to rise.
Jose Luis Valdes, who video taped the shooting last Sunday, was arrested by Pomona police on Friday on an 8-year-old war rant in Florida.
Valdes, 37, was at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Ser vices office in Pomona when he was arrested. Pomona police said they did not know Valdes was the cameraman in Carrion's shooting.
According to Carrillo, who is al so representing Valdes, the Chi no resident arrived in Florida from Cuba in the early 1990s. Valdes had served in Cuba's international brigade in Angola during the 1980s, Carrillo said.
According to Carrillo, Valdes was in Los Angeles County jail on Saturday. The attorney expects a court hearing for Valdes early this week.
Officials finish Carrion probe
SAN BERNARDINO - The investigation into the officer-involved shooting of an unarmed Air Force security officer concluded Friday and is in the hands of prosecutors.
San Bernardino County sheriff's investigators provided their reports into the shooting of Senior Airman Elio Carrion and the high-speed chase that preceded it to the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office.
"I want to tell all of you that this case has had the top priority of our office and the top priority of our investigators," Sheriff Gary Penrod told a packed room of reporters at sheriff's headquarters.
Investigators made no recommendations on whether criminal charges should be filed against Deputy Ivory J. Webb, Penrod said. He called the investigation purely fact-finding in nature. But he did say the driver involved in the high-speed chase, Montclair resident Luis Fernando Escobedo, probably would be criminally charged.
District Attorney Michael Ramos said while his office has received the sheriff's reports, they are missing investigative items that will be needed to complete the review.
The FBI's enhanced copy of the videotape, interviews and forensic evidence are among those items, said Susan Mickey, spokeswoman for the
District Attorney's Office. Mickey could not provide an estimate as to when the review would be completed."I know we want to do this as expeditiously as possible, but we don't want to sacrifice fairness and thoroughness for speed," she said.
Deputy District Attorney Lewis Cope, from the department's major crimes unit, has been assigned to review the case. His report will be reviewed by top-ranking prosecutors, including Ramos, before any decision is made.
The FBI is also conducting an investigation into possible civil rights violations.
Carrion, who just returned from a six-month tour in Iraq, was a passenger in a Corvette that crashed into a wall at the end of a short chase in Chino on Jan. 29. Webb began chasing Carrion and Escobedo after he saw Escobedo driving more than 100 mph through a residential neighborhood.
A resident on Francis Street videotaped Webb shooting Carrion. Although the video is dark and fuzzy, it appeared Webb told Carrion to "get up" and when Carrion complied, Webb opened fire.
"Of course that arouses a lot of suspicion," Penrod said. "I must say there's a lot of skips in the tape and there's a lot that can't be seen."
Penrod said Webb has also seen the tape and is "very upset about it."
He said Webb also expressed concern for the safety of his family because of the amount of publicity the case has generated, but was also concerned for Carrion. The Sheriff's Department has received thousands of e-mails and phone calls from the public, including demands that Webb be arrested, Penrod said.
The Carrion family has also demanded the deputy be arrested and charged in the shooting.
The family's attorney, Luis Carrillo, would not comment specifically on the Penrod's statements.
"The family seeks justice," he said. "What happened to Elio Carrion is totally unjustified and, so far, there has been no justice in San Bernardino County and from the authorities in San Bernardino County."
Webb has been interviewed by investigators for several hours and remains on paid administrative leave.
Photo Galleries:
• Shooting victim's family speaks
• Airman shot in Chino by Sheriff Deputy
Videos:Watch NBC video of Chino shooting
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• Police arrest man who taped shooting
• Deputy who shot airman scrutinized in 2000 lawsuit
• Airman's driver: "I am responsible"
• Chino police footage still open to interpretation
• FBI begins probe of U.S. airman's shooting in Chino
• Airman shot by sheriff's deputy stable, wife says
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