By: Jeff Wiehe
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — He won’t face criminal charges, but there’s no guarantee a Marine-turned-rookie Fort Wayne Police officer will keep his job after shooting to death a 24-year-old man who fled officers late last year in southeast Fort Wayne.
Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards said in a statement Thursday she believed there was “insufficient” evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that 25-year-old Officer James A. Arnold was guilty of a crime. He was put on administrative leave and then reassigned to light desk duty after the shooting.
Arnold shot at Jose Baudilio Lemus-Rodriguez multiple times as the Guatemalan native wanted on a criminal warrant sat at the wheel of the car he used to lead officers on a four-minute pursuit in the Hanna-Creighton neighborhood Dec. 23. According to police, Arnold believed Lemus-Rodriguez was trying to use his white Toyota to ram officers.
Now Arnold - a former Marine Corps sergeant whom York said served as a combat engineer in Afghanistan and Iraq before being sworn in to the department Oct. 26 - will be the subject of an internal investigation that should be complete in two or three weeks.
“It’s normal procedure,” York said. “The administrative investigation team looks into shootings and makes sure policies and procedures were followed.”
York said the team will comprise two officers from Internal Affairs and a firearms instructor from the department. It will investigate whether Arnold violated department policy and whether any policy or procedures need to be changed, York said.
Though Lemus-Rodriguez was in a moving vehicle and officers are not encouraged to shoot at moving vehicles, York said nothing stops an officer from shooting at someone in a vehicle. “There’s a difference between shooting at a vehicle and shooting at a suspect in a vehicle, which currently is not prohibited,” he said.
Lemus-Rodriguez, who was in the United States illegally, was wanted for violating probation on two counts of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, never having received a driver’s license, and having false or fictitious registration.
He was spotted driving erratically by an off-duty officer near the intersection of East Creighton and Clinton streets.
The officer tried to pull him over when he ran a stop sign, but Lemus-Rodriguez fled and led officers on a chase that ended with him crashing his car near a church at the intersection of Oxford and Warsaw streets.
As he backed up, Arnold opened fire, believing Lemus-Rodriguez was using the car as a weapon.
It’s not known whether Arnold talked to detectives during the criminal investigation, but he would have had the same right as any citizen to remain silent. He must by law talk for the internal investigation or face termination.
Because Arnold is still serving out his probation year in the department, as any rookie officer would, York and his administrators still have to decide whether to keep him or recommend termination to the Board of Public Safety, which has the power to fire officers.
“People might ask why is this person still on desk duty, and the reason is we’re being very cautious,” York said. “We’re making sure everything else is done appropriately.”
Meanwhile, a civil suit is in the works.
Jaime Palma, a Fort Wayne resident and Guatemalan immigrant, filed paperwork indicating as much in Allen Superior Court last month. Lemus-Rodriguez did not leave much of anything behind, according to the documents, but any monetary damages won would go to his 4-year-old daughter in Guatemala.
Palma, who according to court records is acting as the representative of Lemus-Rodriguez’s estate, declined comment Thursday and said he had not been notified of Richards’ decision. A call to local lawyer John Rogers, whom Palma said is also representing the family, was not returned.
Copyright 2008 The News-Sentinel