By GREG RISLING
Associated Press Writer
SAN BERNARDINO, California- The family of a man videotaped being shot by a sheriff’s deputy as he appeared to comply with an order to get up from the ground called Friday for the deputy to be arrested.
“What he did was totally irresponsible, unprofessional and went into criminal conduct,” family attorney Luis Carrillo told reporters at the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. “Justice demands that he be arrested.”
Senior Airman Elio Carrion, 21, an Air Force security officer recently back from Iraq, was shot three times Sunday night by Deputy Ivory J. Webb, 45. Carrion was a passenger in a car that crashed after a brief high-speed chase in Chino, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Los Angeles.
A videotape recorded by a resident showed Carrion on the ground talking with the deputy, who stood pointing a gun at him. The videotape recorded a voice that appeared to be commanding Carrion to “Get up.” As Carrion began to rise, the deputy fired three shots into him. Carrion has been hospitalized in good condition.
Carrion’s wife, Mariela, 19, said her husband was doing “good.” She said he had not discussed the shooting.
Webb, whose identity was released Thursday, has not commented publicly. He has been placed on paid administrative leave since the shooting.
“My family is outraged because this person hasn’t been arrested and is on paid vacation,” Mariela Carrion said. “No one ever deserves to be treated like that.”
The family attorney said he was not aware of any contact between the Sheriff’s Department and Carrion’s family. Asked if a lawsuit would be filed, Carrillo said the family was only concerned with Carrion’s “speedy recovery.”
“He went to Iraq and thank God he didn’t get a bullet,” Carillo said, “but he comes home and he gets three bullets.”
The attorney said the sheriff must explain why there has been no arrest. He urged federal authorities to arrest the deputy for civil rights violations if local authorities do not make an arrest.
Also present at the press conference were Carrion’s parents, Heliodoro and Carmen, their two daughters and Mariela Carrion’s parents. One of the daughters held a teddy bear wearing a camouflage hat.
Friends and family of the deputy have described him as levelheaded and “by-the-book.”
Sheriff’s officials said Thursday that Webb, a former college football player at the University of Iowa and the son of a respected former police chief had spent more than 10 years with the department.
"(Webb) very much admired his father, how his father was perceived and respected in the community, and how he was a great dad,” longtime friend and Iowa teammate Keith Chappelle of DeSoto, Texas, told the Los Angeles Times. “He wanted to be just like his dad.”
The FBI has opened an inquiry into possible civil rights violations, and the Sheriff’s Department is conducting its own probe. Carrion has not been charged. The car’s driver, who was not injured, was arrested for investigation of felony evading but was released from custody late Tuesday. He has yet to be charged.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Beavers has said some of the dialogue on the tape was difficult to understand and that crucial evidence may be obscured. The FBI has been asked to enhance the recording, she said.
Webb’s high school friend Dexter Winans of Los Angeles said he was surprised to learn Webb was the deputy on the tape.
“Ivory Webb was one of the straightest guys I’ve ever known, don’t drink, don’t smoke, nothing but a straight square ... a good kid who listened to his dad,” Winans said.
Calls by The Associated Press to numbers listed for Webb and possible family members were not immediately returned.
In 2001, Webb was one of several San Bernardino County deputies named in a federal civil lawsuit alleging the use of excessive force against an inmate at the West Valley Detention Center. The jury in that case ruled in favor of the deputies and cleared Webb, who had been accused of failing to stop a fellow deputy’s misconduct.