Posted on 07/12/2005 10:06:16 PM PDT by SmithL
LOS ANGELES - A war of words is following a standoff and shootout with police that left a 19-month-old girl and her gun-wielding father dead. The man's brother on Tuesday called officers' actions "cruel" and the police chief hinted at Jose Pena's family troubles.
"It's been cruel what's happened to my brother," German Pena told reporters in South Los Angeles. Pena described his brother as ill and criticized officers - one of whom was shot by Pena - for abruptly storming an office in an effort to end Sunday's nearly three-hour standoff.
"They didn't have any patience, none at all, knowing that my niece was with him, that he was a father," Pena said. "They should have acted with more patience."
Autopsies were completed Tuesday on Jose Raul Lemus Pena, 34, and his daughter, Suzie Marie Pena, born in December 2003, the coroner's office said. Chief coroner's investigator Craig Harvey said the Police Department requested that results not be released. Police declined immediate comment.
Police Chief William Bratton said Pena was to blame for his daughter's death regardless of the finding, calling him "an individual who held his own daughter out as a human shield."
"This father was not a father of the year as the family is now attempting to portray him," Bratton said.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Pena had been served with a temporary restraining order on Saturday involving allegations of child molestation. Spokespersons for the police and Superior Court said they could find no records of such an order.
Bratton declined comment on the possible order, saying only, "There are issues within that family that we believe may have precipitated the father's actions."
One officer was wounded in the shoulder during the third and final exchange of gunfire between police and Pena. The officer, Daniel Sanchez, 39, was released from a hospital Monday and was recovering at home, police spokesman Jason Lee said.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for patience during investigations into the shooting.
"This was a tragic situation," he said in an appearance on KTLA-TV. "We are going to get to the bottom of it, very clearly. But on preliminary observation as a layman I tell you I saw officers trying to do everything they could to avoid a confrontation. ... I ask people to have patience until we get to the bottom of it."
If I coul raise that SOB from the dead justti kill him again I think I would.
What I found incredible about this incident, is that the new mayor of Los Angeles actually made some quite reasoned remarks about the situation the officers faced, and that people should calm down and wait for the investigation.
It sounds like he was just taking his daughter out for ice cream. Of course, he was also carrying a weapon and fired forty shots at the cops, but I guess that's irrelevant.
so I'm sure the press will keep this going all summer ,... fomenting unrest is a staple of journalism , let us see if Bratton caves,... the culture of pandering to dysfunctional "lifestyles" gets people killed
The perp is obviously guilty for the girls death but quite frankly the cops failed. When innocents die something was not done right. Whether it was a procedural failure or an individuals failure this thing needs to be dissected so something like this doesn't happen again. Hopefully there will be plenty of debriefings and a chance for the police to learn how to do it better.
In the line of duty, innocents sometimes die.
Is it a cause of mourning? Yes. Is it a cause for sadness? Most certainly.
But cops aren't omnipotent. They are only regular people putting their lives on the line to keep the streets of America safe (with the exception of dirty cops, but that's a whole nother' can of worms). And when they try as best as they can (I mean, come on, they were shot at multiple times before they responded), they shouldn't be criticized for not succeeding. They will most certainly learn from this and do better in the future, most definitely.
But they are only human. They are not gods.
Thank you!
Agree but failure is failure. Did they lack patience? Why was a cop in the line of fire (another failure, cop was shot)? This wasn't a shoot out at the Git'n'Go, it developed over the course of several hours. There were a lot of procedural failures, it's not about blame it's about learning from the mistakes. In a hostage situation patience really is a virtue. You contain and you talk. Also, where was the SWAT? Three hours is plenty of time to mobilize. Someone screwed up--obviously--because a cop got shot and a baby was killed by what appears to be police fire.
If using you're only option to avoid another officer getting shot by Jose Raul Lemus Pena is a failure than so be it. This was an officers worst nightmare. Many of these officers have their own children and families to go home to and are deeply hurt by the childs death. IMO this POS was commiting suicide by cop and knew exactly what would happen to the child. Damned if they did, damned if they didn't
Truer words were never spoken!
The nex time a perp is holding a baby as a shield I hope the cops get it right and only the perp dies. The first time is a tragedy, the second time it happens is incompetence. This one was the tragedy.
His brother killed his niece and tried to kill others, and he has the gall to call the police 'cruel'?
I'll be one of the last one to ever excuse police incompetence. If the circumstances dictate a situation where the child could be saved from any harm, then I'm with ya.
Couldn't care less about the dead scumbag, but what a shame about the baby girl.
No, the dead scumbag was definitely not "father of the year".
Ya'll been following this one at all?
Had to say what had to be said (lookie at the new tagline).
I'm just sick of hearing people harping on good cops for not saving every single life that the sick and twisted decide to use as a shield or as a hostage. Sure, if there's incompetence, then the incompetent ones need to be fired. But lumping the good ones in with them? Come on.
It seems every time there's a story lambasting the cops and painting the crooks as good guys, I get the impression that the media thinks they live in a world where cops are the rough equivalent of Superman.
They are not.
And in life, sometimes bad things happen. You can either harp on about it for eternity until it becomes so dead it becomes the horse version of Lazarus, or you can live with it.
After all, the cops have to. How do you think they feel?
Why does the media always give the criminal's family press coverage so that they can't rant at law enforcement for CARRYING OUT THE LAW?
Of course if the scumbag had killed the little girl then the brother would be screaming how the police didn't protect her. This family is obviously from the whining/entitlement class. I'm sure they will file a multi million dollar lawsuit (they would have no matter what the outcome) and the idiots of California will settle with the famiy so as to not prolong their pain.
AWB
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