CA: Murder charges filed against suspects in officer's crash death

ap on Riverside Press Enterprise ^ | 7/27/06 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

SAN FRANCISCO

Three robbery suspects who were allegedly inside a van that crashed and killed a city police officer during a chase were charged with murder Thursday, and a fourth was being held on suspicion of murder.

Steven Wayne Petrilli, 19, of Hayward; Carl Lather, 20; and Nicholas Smith, 22; also were charged with manslaughter, evading police and robbery, according to the San Francisco District Attorney's office.

Jessica Chamberlain, 20, who also was a passenger in the van, was arrested but not yet charged.

Police are still trying to determine why officer Nick-Tomasito Birco, 39, joined in Wednesday's pursuit of the Dodge van without telling dispatchers.

At least two other cruisers were chasing the van on streets in the city's Portola district when it hit Birco's car, which spun around, hit a curb and landed on its side. The van slammed into a home and hit other parked cars.

At the time of the crash, Petrilli, the alleged driver, was out on bail pending charges in a 2005 burglary and a separate case of lewd conduct with a 13-year-old girl in 2004, police said.

The chase started after the suspects allegedly robbed and assaulted a man at a bus stop, according to police.

Birco's cruiser arrived at an intersection where the fleeing van ran a stop sign and crashed into it, but dispatch records showed Birco did not radio in to say he was taking part in the chase, according to investigators.

Birco had been on the force for five years.

[NormsRevenge]

Petrilli, the alleged driver, over a 18 months period has had 17 different charges for a variety of offenses, only a couple of which he did much of any time for, most charges having been dropped by the DA's office previously. One of the local news outets is saying it is the fault of the courts.. another the DA's office.

The driver should not have been on the streets in the first place is the gist of it or so it sounds.

Kamala Harris, the DA, is the one that refused to file death penalty eligible charges against a gang member that cut a police officer down about 2 years ago with an AK47..

Officer Birco, a Marine Corps veteran, was going on vacation to Hawaii on Friday to visit friends and family and get some surfing in. Instead, they will be travelling here for services.

[Goldie Lurks]

San Francisco/Harris/CA. Court System = Soft on Crime.