New Details Emerge in Officer's Suicide

Widow says more could have been done to prevent her husband's suicide

A medical examinerโ€™s report reaveals additional information in the suicide of Officer David Hall.

The 41-year-old veteran San Diego Police Officer had been battling alcoholism and was depressed because he believed he would lose his job for a DUI hit and run crash he was involved in earlier this year.

In the report, investigators say Officer Hall was specifically worried about an upcoming hearing regarding his DUI case.

And before his suicide he didn't leave behind a note. In fact, he didn't give his wife Michelle or three kids any indication he was about to shoot himself in the backyard.

Which he did at about 9:40 that morning, as his kids slept inside their Linda Vista home.

He was found by his wife who heard the gunshot as she was about to drive off to work.

The report also shows Officer Hall had quit drinking for five months following his DUI crash, but for some reason he relapsed shortly before his suicide.

"More people commit suicide after a DUI arrest than any other kind of arrest including rape-murder,โ€ said Psychiatrist Dr. Clark Smith, who believes Officer Hall's relapse played a big role in his suicide.

"Often people who are very depressed drink a lot more and both factors increase suicide risk," Clark said.

Michelle agreed that the DUI played a major role in her husbandโ€™s suicide.

"We went through such a tremendous ordeal in the last seven months," she said. "He knew what he did was wrong with the DUI and he was trying to fix his life by going to Alcoholics A, and in the end he felt like he had no other option."

Michelle also blames her husband's suicide on certain members of the media who she says hounded her family about the DUI case.

And she blames the D-A's office saying, โ€œI think the District Attorney was out to make an example of him."

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