WITNESS TAKES ISSUE WITH DA’S REPORT ON ANDY LOPEZ
http://abc7news.com/news/witness-takes-issue-with-das-report-on-andy-lopez/170163/
DA’s Report:
http://dig.abclocal.go.com/kgo/PDF/Complete-OIS-Report-7-7-14.pdf
Several things stand out from witnesses in the report:
The shooting started almost immediately after the car had stopped and the officers had gotten out and had positioned themselves and their guns in the V. Once in this position they said nothing more before opening fire.
The order to throw down the gun was given from inside the car — not from outside when they had their guns in the V where it might be heard.
The DA mentions that the kid was carrying the gun in his hand but doesn’t say which hand which is curious. Instead we have to hear from witnesses that he was carrying it “like a toy” in his LEFT hand.
The DA spends a lot of time on the path of one particular bullet — her magic bullet — to the exclusion of the others as her evidence that when it entered his arm he must have been facing the shooter. Of course her own ME disagrees with her.
[developing] — more to come]
Page 30 [32] of the report on the gunshot wounds all show that he was shot with his right side to the shooter [#1, #3, #4, #5, #7]]
Wound #6 shows that his left arm was pointing away from the shooter when shot as the bullet enters the right side of the left forearm and exits the left palm.
Wound #2 shows that he was shot in the back while he was lying face down on the ground. It enters his right hip and passes through his left lung into his upper back.
All shots were right to left, in the right side, or in the back right side, none in the front or on the left side.
At no point could the kid have been facing the shooter.
Not one wound or piece of forensic evidence backs up the DA’s decision.
Page 9 [11] CAD log shows 10 seconds but audio tape shows 19 seconds from the beginning of the first call [Code 20, two units] to the end of the second call [shots fired].
Part of that 19 seconds was the car in motion pulling up to a stop [5 seconds?] and part of it was after the first shot to the second call [7 seconds?].
So how much time to unbuckle seatbelts and pull weapon without shooting yourself in the foot and open the door and position yourself in the V [5 seconds?]
That leaves all of 2 seconds to yell “drop your gun” and give him time to respond.
From page 37 of the report: 3 bullets lodged in the body, 4 passed through, and 1 missed entirely — total of 8 shots fired, the last 3 or 4 being carefully measured per witnesses.
1] First one went high as he was aiming for the head but missed entirely and it went into the house across the way.
2] Second one caused superficial wound to the upper left arm. DA claims that this one was front to back proving he was facing the deputy at the time disagreeing with her own ME on this who says it was back to front. The DA makes a federal case out of this one even though the wound was superficial.
Also this shot in the left arm may very well have caused the gun that it was carrying to fall out of his hands. Thus after this shot there may have been no threat.
If he was facing the shooter at this point then how did he get turned around again to get shot 6 more times on his right and back side.
The DA had to disagree with her ME here because this shot is devastating if it was backside of left arm to the front because it means that that he was clearly shot with his back to the shooter on this second shot.
3] This is stunning from the DA’s own words on page 38:
“He was hit in the left upper arm, then the left chest, and as he started to fall to the ground 5 more times.”
What??? Is this DA for real??? the left chest??? He was shot in the right side of the right chest with the bullet lodging in the left chest. And this was the kill shot.
4] DA determines that the next 2 shots [4 and 5] were to the forearms of both left and right arms and found lodged in the fence across the way.
[They would likely have caused anything he was still holding onto to fall to the ground — thus there would have been no further reason to shoot.
Furthermore the one that entered the right side of the left forearm exited the hand meaning that that left arm was pointed away from the shooter at the time and thus whatever he had in it was not pointed toward him and not in his hand anymore.]
5] This was the 6th round fired and hit Lopez in the right buttocks while he was on or near the ground.
6] This was the 7th round fired and entered the right buttocks exiting the back and went into the dirt and was never recovered. Once again shot in the back while falling or on the ground.
7]This was the 8th and last round fired and while he was on the ground going into the right hip and lodging in the left chest. Had the third shot not been fatal then this would have been fatal as well.
So we have a policeman whose first shot is a head shot that misses high, second shot grazing the back of the left arm while the kid’s back is turned, third shot enters the right side chest and kills as the kid is turning to his right, fourth and fifth shot hits right sides of his arms as he’s turned sideways, sixth-seventh-and eighth shot in the back right buttocks as the kid is falling to the ground or on the ground.
If the Grand Jury is for real and can read this report, then it should return a bill of indictment.