Posted on 03/18/2008 9:34:05 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
OCEANSIDE -- Police weren't saying much Monday about a suspected road rage incident Saturday night in which an off-duty San Diego police officer shot and wounded a Camp Pendleton woman and her 8-year-old son.
The off-duty officer, Franklin "Frank" White of Oceanside, fired an undisclosed number of shots during the incident, which happened at about 9:30 p.m. in a shopping center parking lot off Old Grove Road, said Oceanside police Sgt. Kelan Poorman.
The woman and child remained hospitalized Monday, but authorities said their injuries were not life threatening.
White is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the Oceanside Police Department's criminal investigation and an internal review by the San Diego Police Department, Chief William Lansdowne said Monday. White has worked for the San Diego Police Department since October 2005.
Poorman said the incident apparently began when one car cut off another car in traffic. He said one driver followed the other driver to the parking lot of the Lowe's Home Improvement store on Old Grove Road, where the shooting took place. He declined to say which car White was driving.
The other driver, a white female in her 20's, was not armed, according to Poorman. Parties from both cars called police, he said.
Poorman said he did not know whether White -- who was accompanied by his wife at the time of the incident --- was inside or outside of his car during the shooting, or whether White acted in self-defense.
"I think that's probably why the shots were fired, but I'd be speculating," Poorman said.
The injured woman is married to a Marine and lives on Camp Pendleton, Poorman said. She was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, where she is still a patient.
As of Monday afternoon, she had not been interviewed, but investigators did speak with her son at Rady Children's Hospital, Poorman said.
He said Oceanside investigators are still trying to obtain surveillance video from businesses in the area
White was not in a police vehicle at the time of the incident, Poorman said.
State and federal laws give off-duty police officers the right to carry a weapon.
A countywide policy adopted in May 2007 addresses when and how off-duty officers may intervene when they observe a law being broken, said San Diego Police Department spokeswoman Monica Munoz.
The policy states that law enforcement officers retain "full power and authority" to perform policing duties when not on duty, including carrying a weapon.
Munoz said she could not comment on whether San Diego police official believe White fired his gun in a police capacity because they are not conducting the investigation into the incident.
she must have REALLY cut him off good...
I hope she learned her lesson.
Whether he was acting as a cop or not, it seems to be a felony act.
Watch yer cornhole, Officer.
Why, he won't be charged.
And, what lesson would that be?
Undoubtedly we”ll see another example of police impunity.
I hope the cop feels like it was worth it because he is now a marked man.
She’s married to a Marine at Camp Pendelton, those boys don’t like when their women are shot by an off duty cop. Not exactly a group the SDPD wants to p*ss off with a biased investigation on this. I hope they take that into consideration when they hide him behind their blue wall...
He had better do some serious hard time.
He’ll be looking for a new line of work any day now. And he doesn’t need to bother applying to any branch of the military.
Yep. Off duty cops are much less likely to fire their weapon in anger than a common citizen with a CCW permit.
At least that is what all the Liberal Anti-Gun activist always tell us.
Why not arrest the police officer to be on the safe side?
They identify the woman as white. I wonder if this was a hate crime?
There is no love lost between the Marines at Pendelton and the local cops...
I’m betting he followed her into the parking lot and approached her car. She thought he was attacking her and tried to drive away. The usual cop reaction to this is to start shooting.
Pure conjecture but I’d bet it was something similar.
Investigate. Investigate. Investigate. Sounds as if they are having trouble finding an offense that would justify shooting an unarmed young woman and an eight year old child? Why is this “officer” walking around free an still on the payroll?
The wife a Marine and his kid are shot up by a cop, I would not want to be that cop.
Cause there aint no place safe for him. Pay him, leave him free to run. the cop is not a good life insurance risk.
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