Officials’ account is sharply disputed
By Greg Moran
San Diego Union-Tribune
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — “Cover now!”
The urgent radio plea came crackling from San Diego police Officer Christopher Leahy the night of Oct. 11, 2003. The phrase means one thing: an officer needs immediate help.
Twenty-four seconds later, another message from Leahy, its meaning unmistakable: “Shots fired.”
Lying on the sidewalk on 65th Street near the Encanto Recreation Center was Billye Venable, 26, bleeding from a gunshot to the head fired by Officer James Hunter.
Now, more than four years later, a federal court jury will have to decide what happened during those 24 seconds – and which of two sharply contrasting version of events to believe.
Venable’s mother and his four children sued the city of San Diego, saying his death was the result of excessive force by Leahy, Hunter and a third officer, Anthony Bueno.
The suit also alleges civil rights violations and wrongful death, and it says the city conducted an inadequate investigation of the shooting that covered up the facts.
Venable was shot after he tried to run from police officers after the car he was riding in with his brother was pulled over. At the time he was a parole violator with several warrants out for his arrest, and he had a lengthy criminal history.
Venable was wrestled to the ground by Leahy, then a 23-year-old officer with less than two years on the force. What happened next is the core of the case.
Police said that as Venable and Leahy fell, Venable used both hands to grab Leahy’s gun and began to tug on it. Bueno kicked Venable to get him to stop struggling, Deputy City Attorney Don Shanahan said.
Hunter jumped on top of the two, who were locked together in a side-by-side struggle. The city said that despite repeated warnings, Venable would not let go of the gun.
Peter Friesen, the lawyer for the Venable family, painted a far different picture.
He said blood-spatter evidence and testimony from five witnesses who saw the altercation will refute the official police version. Instead of struggling, Friesen said, Venable was lying face down, with Hunter kneeling on his back and grasping Venable’s left arm behind him.
One crucial distinction: Friesen said witnesses will say it was Leahy – not Bueno – who got up after tackling Venable and was kicking him. It was during the kicks that Hunter shot Venable, Friesen said.
Moreover, Friesen emphasized to jurors, in two other nonfatal incidents Leahy used force on two people he arrested, saying the suspects in those cases reached for his weapon. One incident happened before the shooting, and one happened after, he said.
“He uses going for a weapon as an excuse to inflict violence,” Friesen said. “That is his MO.”
In addition, Friesen said there was no blood on Leahy – something that should be there if he were locked tightly with Venable when he was shot in the head.
Shanahan said the city will have its own blood expert explain why that is so. He said Leahy “arched away” from Venable in the seconds before Hunter pulled the trigger.
The Venable shooting caused an uproar in Encanto and surrounding communities as residents complained that police overreacted. District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis later ruled the shooting was justified – further angering community members.
The trial is expected to last about a month and will focus intently on those dramatic, and disputed, 24 seconds. To buttress their cases, attorneys used a variety of visual aides during opening statements Tuesday and yesterday.
Friesen laid a life-sized dummy clad in a white T-shirt and red sweat pants on the floor of the courtroom of federal Judge Irma Gonzalez. Shanahan played a tape of the radio calls between the officers and police dispatch.
Shanahan said Leahy can be heard on the tape saying, “Got my gun!” But when played in court it was difficult to make out the words on the tape.
Copyright 2008 San Diego Union-Tribune