San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis released body camera and other video evidence from three officer-involved shootings that happened in the past year in our county.
Dumanis said the three videos illustrate how quickly the situations unfold.
Along with the videos, the DA also released detailed investigations into the shootings.
Dumanis said she is releasing the videos and evidence from DA investigations into officer-involved shootings to be transparent.
“We wanted to make available to the public the pertinent and relevant video tape, so that the public gets to see what a police officer does on a daily basis,” she said. “I think it really opens people’s eyes up to what actually happens in these circumstances.”
A special operations investigator said the DA’s office is aiming to provide the videos and evidence on a regular basis. The goal is to have police departments complete their OIS investigations within 90 days, and have the DA’s office complete its review within 90 days, so that video and evidence is made available to the public no later than 6 months after a shooting.
Out of the video evidence released on Friday, one case from November 2015 shows a SWAT incident that went on for hours with a double homicide suspect.
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Officers can be heard in the video expressing concern: “Hold on! What’s that in his hand? What’s he got in his hand?”
Hours prior to the standoff, officers had been trying to pull over 39-year-old Felipe Vega on a double homicide arrest warrant. Vega was wanted for killing a south San Diego brother and sister, for which he has since been convicted to life in prison.
Instead of pulling over, Vega led police on a high-speed pursuit, throwing a handgun out the window of his car during the case.
He finally stopped his car, but refused to get out.
SWAT officers spent hours trying to coax him into surrendering peacefully. They also tried firing pepper balls at his car. When they sent in a K-9 to try to take Vega into custody, he slammed the K-9’s head in the car door.
The investigation found that as SWAT finally began approaching the car, Vega got out, and reached toward his waistband with both hands. An officer then fired one shot, wounding Vega in the chest, from which he later recovered.
Another video released Friday shows aerial and body camera footage of a domestic violence call a San Diego police officer volunteered to take in January 2016. A victim told police the suspect had just held a knife to her throat and choked her.
In the aerial video taken from the police helicopter, a SDPD officer is seen pulling up, jumping out of his patrol car, and then a suspect takes an aggressive stance.
He’s armed with a large butcher knife, according to the investigation. When the suspect lunged at the officer, the officer fired one round which killed the suspect, according to the video and investigation.
An autopsy found the suspect had large amounts of meth and amphetamines in his system.
In another case, body camera and dash cam video caught the moments when an El Cajon officer fired into a car as a suspect was driving at him.
The incident began when police tried to pull over the stolen car. The driver led El Cajon police on a high-speed pursuit that reached speeds greater than 100 miles per hour.
A passenger and a dog were killed in the January 2016 shooting.
The DA’s office says its body camera release policy, which all law enforcement agencies came to a consensus on, is the first in the nation.
Dumanis found the three officer-involved-shootings to be legally justified because the officers believed their lives were in danger when they fired.
