Wild, wild west

Deputies Apologize for Los Angeles Shooting
Sheriffs Fired 120 Rounds in Videotaped Confrontation
By ALICIA CHANG, AP





LOS ANGELES (May 14) - Ten sheriff's deputies who fired 120 rounds at an unarmed driver at the end of a chase in a quiet neighborhood appeared with a lawyer who apologized to residents on their behalf, but said the officers had acted to capture a suspect who ''deserved and needed to be stopped.''

Wearing suits and ties or dark sweaters, the deputies stood silently before news cameras Friday while lawyer Gregory Emerson explained that each had voluntarily told investigators what happened during Monday's videotaped shooting in Compton.

Emerson said the deputies didn't try to "harm or injure or otherwise jeopardize the safety of the individuals'' on the street where 44-year-old Winston Hayes was shot. Bullets penetrated several homes in the area.

"They're not hiding,'' Emerson told reporters. "They're honorable, decent individuals. They're proud professionals of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and they're willing to stand up and tell the community that they do apologize.''

He said after the news conference, however, that "the apology wasn't for the shooting.''

"The apology was to residents in the area that were affected by that shooting,'' Emerson said. "If we could do it over again, we would take action to stop Mr. Hayes. Hopefully with better training we could do that to prevent shots into peoples' homes.''


Residents Outraged by Shooting




The deputies fired 120 rounds in the early morning confrontation, striking Hayes four times and bruising one deputy who was hit in his bulletproof vest. Hayes is recovering at a hospital.

The barrage prompted outrage from some residents. Sheriff Lee Baca offered to double the typical payment for damages incurred.

After the news conference, Emerson said he spoke for the deputies because they were involved in criminal and departmental investigations stemming from the shooting, making it inappropriate for them to comment.

The shooting followed a brief pursuit. Some deputies thought Hayes, who was driving a sport utility vehicle, had shot two deputies while others thought he was trying to ram them, sheriff's officials said.

Emerson said that Hayes "deserved and needed to be stopped'' because deputies had been warned that he was a murder suspect.

Officials later said that Hayes was not involved in the shooting of the deputies, and he has not been charged with a crime.

One resident, Reyes Valencia, who saw the shooting that left a bullet hole in his wooden fence, said he doesn't accept the apology.

"I'm glad they did apologize. It's not going to change what they did,'' said the 41-year-old Valencia, who has lived on the block for 35 years. "The guy didn't have a gun. It's no reason to shoot the guy.''

Baca said 70 to 80 shots were fired during the first five seconds of the confrontation. He said he believes some deputies emptied their guns while others fired once or twice.

The deputies are undergoing counseling and will return to work, Baca said..

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A few days later some of the TV stations were following a car chase when the suspect was shot and killed in the driveway of a fast food restaurant...all on live TV.

Some cable news outlet had guests on that were all in favor of televising the shooting of the suspect..

Mark Fuhrman, Former LAPD cop and star of the OJ Simpson trial,
thought that it was a good idea to show these chases on the tube....to let criminals know what they were getting into.

My question is....

If this jerk had shot and killed a cop, on live TV, what would the reaction have been?


"They shouldn't show these chases on TV because it will send the message to criminals that they CAN kill a police officer????"

:rolleyes: