Officer involved shootings * May 5, 2001:...
Officer involved shootings
* May 5, 2001: Officer Mark Wersching shot Antonio Saldivar, 18,
in the Oak View neighborhood after mistaking him for a crime suspect
he was pursuing. He shot Saldivar when the young man allegedly
threatened him with what turned out to be a toy gun.
* May 12, 2000: A 17-year-old Russian exchange student was shot in
the leg after allegedly trying to burglarize a home. The boy
attempted to force his way into a residence armed with a handgun and
was shot when he began charging police.
* Sept. 3, 1999: Huntington Beach Police officer Nick Ekovich Jr.,
52, exchanged gunfire at close range with Eric Fredricksen, 35, of
Santa Ana, during a robbery attempt at the Green Tree Salon. The
officer was shot six times, four times in his bulletproof vest and
twice in the arm. Ekovich survived and Fredricksen died at the scene.
* April 22, 1999: David Blackman was shot and killed by Officer
Aaron Smith during a domestic violence call. Police said Blackman had
his hand in his pocket as if he was holding a gun and made a motion
to draw out a weapon. Investigations found no evidence of wrongdoing
on Smith’s part.
* Nov. 24, 1998: Frank Bac Lac was shot and killed after
carjacking a taxi cab at knifepoint. After a police pursuit, the car
came to a stop, but Bac Lac refused to follow police orders. He was
shot and killed by Officer William Murphy after allegedly charging
the officer with his knife.
* Sept. 11, 1996: Theodore Franks, 77, was shot and killed by a
police officer who was responding to a burglar alarm at a business
complex where Franks worked. Franks, who was sleeping there at the
time, was accidentally shot in the leg and died of blood loss. The
police officer was cleared in the lawsuit.
* Jan. 5, 1996: Ulises Zambrano, 17, was shot and killed by a
Huntington Beach police officer during a drug raid of a Santa Ana
home. Zambrano allegedly made a suspicious move, as if grabbing for a
weapon.
* Oct. 29, 1995: Michael Warren Vines, an ex-convict, was shot
several times by police officers after allegedly charging officers
with a pair of scissors.
* Sept. 29, 1995: Jose Manuel Rios, 22, was shot and killed while
in possession of a sawed-off shotgun in the Oak View neighborhood.
Police said the officer shot Rios after he continued to point the gun
at the officer’s unmarked car.
* July 4, 1995: Police shot a local man to death and arrested at
least 100 others when riots broke out between main and 14th streets.
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