Updated Monday 4:15 p.m.
A pair of Camp Pendleton Marines assaulted two police officers in the moments leading up to a confrontation that led to one of them being shot to death inside a Palm Springs parking garage early Saturday morning, the police chief said Monday.
Chief Al Franz told reporters that one Marine was visibly drunk, and the other refused an order to turn off his car and stop it as a police officer was leaning in his car's passenger-door window, attempting to prevent their departure from a downtown Palm Springs parking garage.
No names have been released by the coroner or police, but the Desert Sun newspaper said family members had come forward to identify the killed motorist as Cpl. Allan DeVillena II, 22, of San Jose.
Franz stepped before reporters today to give an accounting of the events leading up to the two bicycle-mounted officers firing their service weapons inside a parking garage at 275 S. Indian Canyon Dr. at 1:58 a.m. Saturday, as nearby bars were closing in the heart of the resort city's entertainment district.
The officers saw the two men walking into the garage and "recognized one of them from an earlier public intoxication incident.
"The two men began yelling derogatory comments at the officers, and they dismounted and approached" the men inside a black Chrysler 300 sedan, Franz related.
"One officer asked the suspect to turn off the car, but the suspect ignored the officer's order and began turning the vehicle around" inside the parking garage, the chief said.
"The officers repeatedly ordered the suspect to stop the vehicle but he refused to do so," he said.
"One of the officers climbed partially into the passenger's side window, attempting to stop the vehicle.
"The suspect directly accelerated toward the second officer and continued on with the initial officer suspended from the passenger side window," he said. The car crashed near the garage exit, and the second officer was hit by the car.
At some point, the officers opened fire to protect themselves and others, Franz said.
The driver, identified by his family as DeVillena, was dead at the scene. The other man was arrested in an outstanding, unrelated misdemeanor warrant and for public drunkeness, but eventually released, the chief said.
Both officers were treated for minor injuries and released at a hospital.
Second Lt. Savannah Moyer, the public affairs officer with the 1st Marine Logistics Group at Camp Pendleton, said the dead man was attached to the 1st Marine Logistics Group.
The department initially reported that the bicycle officers saw a fight break out in the parking structure as they approached the Chrysler. Both police officers have 4-1/2 years with the department, and were put on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the shooting investigation.
–City News Service
'A GOOD START !!!!! ' LOL }~)
It also sounds like these cops were waiting for the guys to come out in hopes of getting them for drunk driving or some other violation. Just too convenient they were in the parking area at closing time and then this confrontation occured. Not a crime, a confrontation. Otherwise, the drunk guy would have gotten in the car with the driver who was not drunk, and drove away. Some verbal altercation does not lead to shooting and is not against the law. Officer walks away just like anyone being called names. IF THAT happened at all and it was the suspects who started it.
As I go on to say somewhere in here there was absolutely NO reason for the cops to have been there at closing time unless they planned on meeting up with these guys later to give them a tough time from earlier. 2. When in training an officer knows that you meet the same amount of force with the same. Now, a sober guy in a car is not a threat, they do not mention where the drunk one is at this point, so all they have to worry about is the sober one in the car. Where in any training would a training officer tell you to shoot the driver of the car? He would say, idiot cop who "MIGHT" be in the way of the car, move, 2nd use tear gas, tazer, and baton training to subdue or slow down your subject, and worse to worse is to shoot out tires, or shoot the guy in the leg. There is nothing said that "Driver of vehicle was doing donuts in the parking area with the 2nd officer hanging out of the car window trying to subdue him, as the other police officer was trying to get away from the driver intent on running HIM OVER."
As I go on to say somewhere in here there was absolutely NO reason for the cops to have been there at closing time unless they planned on meeting up with these guys later to give them a tough time from earlier. 2. When in training an officer knows that you meet the same amount of force with the same. Now, a sober guy in a car is not a threat, they do not mention where the drunk one is at this point, so all they have to worry about is the sober one in the car. Where in any training would a training officer tell you to shoot the driver of the car? He would say, idiot cop who "MIGHT" be in the way of the car, move, 2nd use tear gas, tazer, and baton training to subdue or slow down your subject, and worse to worse is to shoot out tires, or shoot the guy in the leg. There is nothing said that "Driver of vehicle was doing donuts in the parking area with the 2nd officer hanging out of the car window trying to subdue him, as the other police officer was trying to get away from the driver intent on running HIM OVER."
Officers who neither were injured. Were taken to be checked out and both were released with no injuries. NONE< zip, zero. Now dont you think that if two strong young Marines wanted to kill those cops they would have at least put a scratch on one before they shot HIM TO DEATH??? How does a sober man mean any harm by walking to their car, the sober one driving, and try to leave the location they were at???
Justice, man I dont know huney you just sound like a mean ole man who likes the idea these two cops both shot a 22 yr old Marine in a car(it does not say trying to run them down), with no injuries whatsoever to the cops, no physical altercation ever occurred. There is bad apples in every group of people Justice.
Were I the parents of the murdered Marine, i would hired the top criminal attorney's to go after these murdering cops, to make sure they were punished to the max. that the Law allows. It will not bring back the dead Marine but maybe the killer cop gets punished properly and not some slap on the wrist,with pay and counseling.
As for the cops, IMHO they deserve a commendation and paid vacation.
Why don't the two of you go back to watching Scooby Doo and solve some real mysteries..... trolls!
Dude your comment above makes me feel even more sorry for you. This young Marine volunteered to joint the US military, but was shot and killed by a trigger happy cop at home, and not by a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan.
"Justice for all 10:12 am on Friday, November 16, 2012 I think you're right. At the very least, they have synchronized their menstrual cycles. If they had the comfort of a real man instead of their rubber toys, maybe they would mellow out"
http://temecula.patch.com/articles/marine-killed-by-police-identified
DEFINATELY this will be one of the largest civil suits that any County/City has seen for a long long time if ever. It does not grind the court system Justice unless it goes to trial, and only about 1 to 4% of cases go to trial, rest are settled OUT of court. As far as the attorney lining his pockets, well I would be slimy too if I had become an attorney, LOL. But their sliminess does serve a purpose, they get the job done, err well their Paralegal does, LOL Paint that as ME! This case will be a slam dunk, will never see a court room, and I will put money on it there will be a huge settlement. Not ever enough to bring back that innocent boy, but enough to punish the City, the officers. The greatest punishment will be when we hear the results of the autopsy and investigation, which most of us know how it will come out.
PS. I think your theory is flawed. I've tried ignoring you, but low and behold, you still come back, thinking that all your pitiful comments have some value.
http://oceanside-camppendleton.patch.com/articles/online-petition-urges-prosecution-of-officers-who-shot-killed-marine-corporal-allan-devillena