Associated Press
VISTA, Calif. — A San Diego police officer was acquitted of weapons charges Monday after shooting an 8-year-old boy and his drunken mother during a traffic dispute while off duty.
Officer Frank White was charged after a near-collision with the mother’s car erupted into a fight between the drivers last year in Oceanside.
White testified he identified himself as a police officer and pointed the gun at Rachel Silva after she had tailgated him and charged at his car several times.
He claimed Silva ignored orders to get out of the car, and he didn’t see the young boy when he fired. Two bullets hit Silva’s upper arm and one hit her son’s knee.
White’s attorney, Rick Pinckard, said White fired in self defense, noting that Silva was revving her engine, screeching her tires and accelerating toward White’s car, which also carried the officer’s wife.
“Silva was clearly placing the Whites in immediate fear and apprehension that they were going to be struck,” Pinckard said.
Prosecutor Jeff Dusek acknowledged Silva started the confrontation and that her refusal to testify hurt the case against White. She pleaded guilty last year to child endangerment and drunken driving for her role in the traffic dispute.
Dusek called it an “an emotional case based on a police officer who, by all accounts, was a decent guy, and decent police officer.”
White could have faced up to nine years in prison if he had been convicted of felony negligently discharging a firearm and misdemeanor exhibiting a firearm.
Pinckard said his client will now try to get back his job. The officer has been on unpaid leave.
The department’s internal investigation is ongoing, and police spokeswoman Monica Munoz declined to comment on the verdict or whether it would clear the way for White to return to work.