Justice for Anna Guo (Ventura Co. Calif. alleged police abuse)

I am of two opinions on this, but running it over I have to wonder what would have been the legal disposition of the case had Officer Rupp been a civilian.

I think a civilian, even a female, would be cooling her heels in jail while the DA whipped up charges of attempted murder with extenuating circumstances (evil gun used) and the press would have a field day presuming the woman was white and/or Christian and/or conservative.

Perhaps someone with LEO experience can answer a couple of questions. Does this incident qualify from the description as a "domestic disturbance"? For a "domestic disturbance" is it standard operating procedure for five officers to respond by splitting up and each covering a part of the house individually?

For legal types, can putting a potential plaintiff on the defensive by issuing charges out the gate (even ridiculous charges) serve as a mechanism to prejudice a jury in a potential civil suit down the road? If so, is this SOP for city / county DAs as a defensive ploy to protect budgets and/or keep insurance rates low?

This was a 14 y/o girl. If you can't handle a 14y/o girl with a big knife w/o blasting away, then you shouldn't be a cop. This officer's name was Kristen. She is incompetant and so are the morons that hired her and gave her a badge and a gun. The DA's worse than incompetent. The proper action in this case is psych care, not prosecution.

Officer had a gun drawn. Maybe it was poor tactics to draw the gun first, instead of the baton, or pepper spray. But you do not holster the gun and get the baton or pepper spray out when you are already being confronted by a suspect with a knife. You do that one too many times, and you might not be coming home any more.

I can imagine her fumbling with all that stuff on her equipment belt.

I think this officer was in way over her head. She saw the knife and reacted with an irrational fear to that object and ignored a key part of the presentation, the 14y/o girl. She reacted to the knife, not to the capacity and power behind the knife. She drew her gun and retreated in terror. When backed into the wall, she started blasting away.

Who was the aggressor here? If the girl advanced and the cop retreated?

"Who was the aggressor here?"

If there was any aggressor, it was the girl against herself. IMO, the reality of this situation is a suicidal girl reacting to illogically connected emotions and a cop reacting in an incompetent fashion to the situation presented. The cop was awarded a position and duty beyond her capacity.

It's one thing to be forced into a threatening situation you can't handle, except by taking a life and another to be placed in that position by folks that are supposed to have other priorities. It's inevitable that a cop will meet the distraught citizen and at other times aggressive criminals. They ought to be able to handle both appropriately, else they shouldn't be given police duty. The cop was a typical govm't jobs program employee, that fit the bureaucratic requiremnets, but not what should be required of folks hired as peace officers, public safety officers, or those hired to serve and protect.

Hello, and thanks for posting our story here. In response to a few of the comments made here:

1. This issue is *not* a racial one, nor is Yellowworld.org presenting it as such. While many Asian Americans incensed over this have their own opinions about how race or ethnicity plays a role, it's not our position.

2. As I'm sure everyone knows, relying upon the mainstream media -- or police -- for facts can be problematic, the truth oftentimes being obscured, either intentionally or unintentionally. What was left out: two other officers, including Rupp, confronted Anna as she walked down the staircase, knife pressed to her wrist (as it was alnight). All officers had their guns drawn on her, but the two male officers behind Anna holstered their guns to physically subdue her, but Rupp fired before they could get there. Further, Rupp's firing pattern suggests she was moving slightly between each of the three shots -- a good indication of panic. In addition, police reports admit Anna was nearly twenty feet away from Officer Rupp before she fired.

3. The District Attorney's office waited nearly two weeks to file its formal felony charge against Anna, an odd delay considering she allegedly attacked a peace officer with a deadly weapon. Since then, the judge issued a gag order to silence the D.A. from continuing to make improper public statements speculating on Anna's mental state and affirming "how sure" he was to the media of her guilt -- this, despite later statements in which he floated the idea of not pursuing jailtime for this supposedly dangerous, troubled teen.

Please check http://anna.yellowworld.org for updates.

Thanks for the post.

As I said, almost no Asian girls at age 14 can contend with trained officers, even if they have a knife. The idea that they will now charge her with assault adds to the belief that cops will protect each other, even when one of their own nearly kills a disturbed 14 year old girl.

With more than one cop there, this should never have made any headlines, except a blurb in the local rag "police subdue suicidal girl"

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