The Associated Press
MESA, Ariz. (AP) -- The former Chandler police officer acquitted on murder charges in the death of a woman trying to pass a fake prescription says he wishes the woman had gotten the help she needed.
“She was a person in need, and I believe if she had gotten the help that she needed, she wouldn’t have been there,” Daniel Lovelace told the East Valley Tribune in an interview Thursday.
Lovelace was acquitted last week of murder charges in the death of Dawn Rae Nelson, a 35-year-old who was trying to pass a forged prescription. Lovelace shot her, saying he feared she was trying to run him over.
Lovelace wouldn’t have done anything differently that day, he told the Tribune, which published a copyrighted story on the interview Friday.
“I followed procedure, I followed what my job allows me to do and tells me to do,” he said. “I wish she were here to explain her side.”
Prosecutors had accused Lovelace of second-degree murder, manslaughter and endangerment because three witnesses testified he chased Nelson before firing and the bullet traveled from back to front.
Lovelace, who was fired from his job in November 2002 after the department found the shooting unjustified, testified in Maricopa County Superior Court that he feared for his life as he saw Nelson’s left-front tire turn toward him.
“I would like to move on from this, but I know in my heart you never forget it, it never goes away,” Lovelace said. “I don’t want to live my life bitter. I’m so sad it ended up the way it did.”
Lovelace said that if Nelson had not tried to flee when questioned about the prescription, she probably would have been arrested and would have gotten help for substance abuse.
“I feel bad their family doesn’t have their mother anymore, the children don’t have her there, the rest of the family doesn’t have her there,” he said.
Since being fired from his job, Lovelace said he has struggled to find work.
“I couldn’t find any work because they know who you are. You kind of get the feeling your application is just going nowhere,” Lovelace said.
He eventually found a part-time job at a vent cleaning business owned by a retired Phoenix police officer.
He cleaned exhaust systems in restaurants and put together the company’s safety and employee manuals.
When Lovelace went to hear the verdict read, he knew he would be taken to jail immediately if convicted. He brought his daughter so he could kiss her goodbye just in case.
“It’s kind of like you’re ready for your life to end or you’re ready for your life to start,” he said. “I know my innocence. I know who I am. I know the charges. The allegations against me were untrue.”