LF: No charges for 8 LAPD officers who fired 100 bullets on innocent women during hunt for deranged ex-cop Christopher Dorner

Title: No charges for 8 LAPD officers who fired 100 bullets on innocent women during hunt for deranged ex-cop Christopher Dorner
Source: Daily News
URL Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat ... e-1.2511683?platform=hootsuite
Published: Jan 27, 2016
Author: Daily News
Post Date: 2016-01-31 17:24:41 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 466
Comments: 1

Chris Carlson/AP

LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors are declining to criminally charge eight Los Angeles police officers who injured two innocent women after mistakenly riddling their pickup truck
with more than 100 bullets during a manhunt for cop-turned-killer Christopher Dorner, according to a report released Wednesday.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said there was insufficient evidence to prove the officers acted unreasonably when they shot up the truck on Feb. 7, 2013, according to the report, dated Friday.

The two women, a mother and daughter, were delivering newspapers in a Torrance neighborhood where police were protecting a Dorner target’s home.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck previously found the 2013 shooting violated department policy. But, he said the officers involved would be allowed to return to the field after additional training because he had confidence in them.

The mistaken shooting unfolded after Dorner, a fired Los Angeles police officer, claimed he was unfairly dismissed and vowed revenge against law enforcement officers in a rambling online manifesto.

HANDOUT/REUTERS

Christopher Dorner was the subject of a manhunt after a 2013 shooting spree in Los Angeles.

He killed the daughter of a former LAPD police official, along with her fiance, and two law enforcement officers over 10 days before being cornered and killing himself in a burning mountain cabin in San Bernardino County.

The shooting involving the two women happened in the middle of the chaotic manhunt for Dorner.

When one of the women threw a newspaper onto the pavement in the early-morning hours, an officer believing the sound was a gunshot opened fire. Officers unable to see clearly into the truck sprayed it with 103 rounds, and hit seven nearby homes and nine other vehicles with gunshots and shotgun pellets.

Margie Carranza, then 47, suffered minor injuries from broken glass. Her then-71-year-old mother, Emma Hernandez, was shot in the back but survived.

In declining to press charges, prosecutors said they weren’t endorsing the officers’ conduct that day, but that they’re guided by legal principles.

The burned down cabin in Big Bear, Calif. where fugitive Christopher Dorner engaged in a gun battle with authorities and died.

Attorney Glen Jonas, who represented the two women, criticized the district attorney’s office for the heavily redacted report, which has the majority of statements from the officers involved completely blacked out.

“I can’t tell from that report whether the charging decision is correct,” Jonas said. “I don’t have faith in the decision ... Either release it unredacted or don’t bother.”

The biggest question still in his mind, Jonas said, was which officer fired the first shot and why.

“That’s a key question if you’re going to convince the public that you can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said. “We need it to know what happened with that first shot — who took it and why they took it to determine if it was reasonable or unreasonable.”

Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said the statements from the officers are considered compelled and that prosecutors are barred from releasing them because they’re part of their personnel records. (3 images)

Sounds to me like there's more to this story than what the prosecution will ever tell.