Baldwin Park is a L.A. suburb about 18 miles west of L.A., and Pico Rivera is 12 miles south of L.A.
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Los Angeles Times: Officer Kills Alleged Carjacker

[url]http://www.latimes.com/news/local/los_angeles_metro/la-000007801jan31.story?coll=la%2Dcommun%2Dlos%5Fangeles%5Fmetro[/url]

LOS ANGELES
Officer Kills Alleged Carjacker
From a Times Staff Writer

January 31 2002

An off-duty Baldwin Park police officer shot and killed one of two men who were
allegedly trying to carjack his vehicle late Tuesday at a Pico Rivera service
station. The second man was wounded.

David Montanez, 36, of Pico Rivera was pronounced dead at the scene, said
coroner's spokesman Scott Carrier. Neither the wounded man nor the 26-year-old
officer, who was not in uniform at the time, was identified.

Dieter C. Dammeier, an Upland attorney who represents the Baldwin Park Police
Officers Assn., said the officer was pumping gas into his Ford truck at a Mobil
station at Beverly and Rosemead boulevards about 10:25 p.m. Tuesday when he was
accosted by two men. "He was willing to give up his truck and leave," Dammeier
said. "He grabbed a gun out of his truck and ran across the street. But they
chased him, knocked him down and kicked him in the head. That's when he decided
he'd better defend himself, and he opened fire."

Dammeier said it was unclear whether the officer's assailants were themselves
armed, but one of them tried to grab the officer's gun. Dammeier said the
officer had identified himself to them as a policeman.

"Obviously, it's a tragedy that the officer had to take this action, but he had
no choice," Dammeier said. "The carjackers forced his hand."

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, who were called to the scene after the
shooting, were investigating the matter, sheriff's Sgt. Joe Efflandt said. He
said the assailants were shot several times in their upper bodies.

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www.lats.com/rights.

Somebody paid close attention during firearms training!!

[b]WRONG![/b] It's not a tragedy that two pathetic, parasitic thugs got what they deserved! WTF is this officer's attorney doing - he's actually turning the lowlife carjacking perps into victims of a "tragedy".

It should be cause for celebration that this guy permanently ridded his community of one pitiful loser and left the other one with a few extra belly-buttons and hopefully a permanent gimpy-limp.

Good for you.  If you're ever in his position, take that attitude with the press.  Have fun in the civil suit!

Like it or not, this is CYA, not pandering to the liberal press.

Off-duty cop.
Has a gun.
RUNS AWAY from the "assailants" until they catch up with him and beat him up?
THEN he shoots them?

No thanks, Officer.  I'll handle it myself.

That's Darwin at its finest.  Chase a man who you just saw grab a GUN.

And what civil suit would that be?

Here's what he should have said:
"Two carjackers were stopped from committing a violent felony by a man with a gun.  One of the thugs was shot dead in the act, the other is in the hospital. Clear case of self-defense and yet  another reason that criminals should fear armed citizens."

No liberal-PC-BS about it being a "tragedy". No sugar-coated blather or lawyerly tip-toeing around the fact that this was a clear case of righteous self-defense using a gun. Just the facts ma'am.


Again, what civil suit would come from the above statement?

No shit.  Let's just hope he never had the opportunity to reproduce.

It seems to me, from a legalistic standpoint the officer did the correct thing.
(1.) Give up the Truck
(2.) Grab the Gun so the criminals won't use it in a future crime
(3.) Attempt to flee to safety
(4.) Defend himself when he had no choice in the matter.

I would like to note that under California law..having a loaded weapon or a weapon in which both ammo and weapon are not secured in separate inaccessible compartments is considered to be a concealed weapon.

Even having only a loaded magazine and no gun is considered to be a concealed weapon.

So...does the off duty officer have a concealed weapons permit ?