Deputy Could Be Fired Over Slaying : Law enforcement: Officer who shot teen-ager has been notified by Sheriff’s Department of plan to terminate him, his attorney says.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department intends to fire the deputy who fatally shot an unarmed 15-year-old Montebello boy after the youth allegedly ran from a stolen car, an attorney for the officer said Wednesday.
The department is “alleging that the shooting was not within department policy,†said Richard Shinee, attorney for Deputy Jose Belmares, who has been under internal investigation in the fatal shooting of David Angel Ortiz.
Belmares has been sent a letter “indicating that they intend to fire him†pending the outcome of an internal appeals hearing, Shinee said.
The notification comes 2 1/2 months after the Los Angeles County Grand Jury declined to indict the deputy on criminal charges.
In a terse statement issued Wednesday afternoon, department officials said only that the internal investigation had been concluded and that an unspecified “administrative action†had been taken.
Citing confidentiality of personnel matters under state law, Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Spear said department officials “are precluded from commenting further.â€
Shinee said Belmares will appeal the firing to the county Civil Service Commission if it is not overturned during the department’s appeal process, which will entail a closed hearing between Belmares, his division chief and Shinee.
“I do not believe that Belmares violated any department procedures . . . and he will be vindicated,†Shinee said, declining to discuss the specific policies that that the deputy is accused of violating.
The disciplinary move against Belmares, who has been on paid administrative leave, concludes the department’s investigation into four controversial shootings involving deputies during a one-month period last summer.
Two deputies who fatally shot a mentally disturbed man eight times were fired in January for violating the department’s shooting policy. Shinee, lead counsel for the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, said the terminations of Deputies Kelly Enos and Paul McCready will be appealed to the Civil Service Commission.
The two other incidents are the Aug. 3 slaying of 19-year-old Arturo Jimenez at the Ramona Gardens housing project by Deputy Jason Mann, and the fatal shooting of Steve Clemons, 28, in Willowbrook Park on Labor Day by Deputy Michael Staley. Mann and Staley have been cleared by the department of wrongdoing.
The grand jury did not bring criminal charges in any of the cases. The FBI, however, is reviewing the incidents for possible civil rights violations.
David Ortiz, David Angel Ortiz’s father, said he was “happy, but frustrated that it took so long†for the department to reach its conclusion. He said that Belmares’ partner at the time, Deputy Robert Orona, also should be terminated because the officers “were a team.†Orona did not shoot the boy.
Miguel F. Garcia, the Ortiz family’s attorney, said the termination “sends a correct message to other officers who will think twice before they pull the trigger.†The family is suing the department in federal court alleging that their son’s civil rights were violated.
Sheriff’s officials said at the time that deputies had chased a stolen car driven by Ortiz into a cul-de-sac near Pioneer Boulevard and the Artesia Freeway. When Ortiz jumped out of the car and ran, they said, Belmares shot him in the back of the neck.
The two deputies said the shooting was prompted when Ortiz appeared to reach into his waistband. But some witnesses said he had stopped at the deputies’ commands and was shot when he did not turn around.
Shinee said that the shooting has “been a real tragedy†for Belmares, who “was simply exercising his training and duties as a police officer.â€
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