Lethal Limits
Law enforcement officials find booze and bullets are a sometimes deadly combination
By André Coleman 06/04/2009
Twenty-four-year-old Chris Sullivan just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq with the Marines and had a promising career ahead of him with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
But sometime around 6:45 a.m. on April 9, 2006 — after ingesting at least 11 mixed drinks — Sullivan’s brief career came to an end after he shot to death Cesar Valdez, his friend since high school and drinking companion that night. Claiming that Sullivan placed his nine-millimeter Beretta in his friend’s mouth and killed him at the end of that alcohol-drenched episode, prosecutors charged him with involuntary manslaughter, even though Sullivan claimed that his gun went off accidentally after Valdez grabbed his arm while the men were playing around.
Either way, Sheriff Lee Baca said the incident could have been avoided if Sullivan had simply not been drinking and carrying his service revolver that day. Two hours after the shooting, his blood-alcohol content (BAC) was 0.16 — twice the legal limit for driving under the influence of alcohol. Nevertheless, a jury later acquitted Sullivan of the charges.
This incident, along with several like it involving law enforcement personnel over the past two decades, led Baca to propose a new policy requiring off-duty deputies to leave their weapons at home if they drink alcohol. Because of objections from the deputies’ union, implementation of the policy is on hold.
While it seems like only common sense to remain sober while carrying a loaded weapon, most area police departments don’t have policies mandating such behavior. Pasadena, for instance, uses a “good sense” policy that relies solely on the officer’s judgment to follow vague written policies, which demand they “conduct their private and professional lives in such a manner as to avoid negative reflection upon themselves, [or] the department or their chosen profession,” according to departmental policy.
Police departments in South Pasadena, Alhambra, Monrovia, Glendale and Los Angeles also have good-sense policies in place that rely on officers to use their best judgment when they’re off-duty. LAPD Deputy Chief Mark Perez told the Los Angeles Times in November that the department has no policy restricting an officer’s consumption of alcohol while carrying a weapon. LAPD chief William Bratton did not reply to requests for comment.
However, LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has made his feelings known about the issue — through proposed legislation. In 1996, shortly after off-duty Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas Kirsch shot and killed used car salesman John Huffman outside a restaurant in Rowland Heights, Villaraigosa, then state Assembly Speaker, carried a bill patterned after drunk-driving laws that would have imposed a $1,000 fine and one-year prison sentence term on anyone — including police officers — carrying or using a firearm while having a BAC of .08. Powerful law enforcement lobbyists fiercely fought the idea, however, and his bill died in committee.
In a story that appeared in the LA Weekly, attorney Carol Watson, who successfully represented Huffman’s family in a case against the county, the Sheriff’s Department and Kirsch, said that the Sheriff’s Department had almost no rules about deputies carrying their weapons while consuming alcohol.
“The Sheriff’s Department has more regulations on grooming than they do on off-duty use of guns and alcohol,” said Watson shortly after winning a $750,000 civil judgment for Huffman’s family.
The numbers
Kirsch shot and killed Huffman outside Whitney’s Steak House in Rowland Heights after the two men exchanged words for about 15 minutes in the restaurant. Kirsch had been drinking wine, Bloody Marys and screwdrivers through much of the day of the shooting. His blood-alcohol level was 0.21 — 2.5 times the legal limit for driving.
Huffman’s family asked a judge to force Sheriff Sherman Block to change the policy that allows law enforcement officials to carry their guns around the clock. That did not happen, but 13 years later, Baca, Block’s successor, believed there was still cause for concern. A study released in April by the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review — a civilian oversight group created by the LA County Board of Supervisors to monitor the Sheriff’s Department — found that 70 Sheriff’s employees were arrested last year for alcohol-related incidents, including 38 DUIs, seven incidents involving battery, five domestic violence cases and three involving firearms.
Those numbers are almost triple the numbers reported in 2004, when 24 LASD employees — the report makes no distinction between the department’s 8,000 sworn and 5,000 non-sworn employees — were arrested. And they more than double the 2006 and 2007 numbers, when 33 off-duty deputies and other employees were arrested.
Among incidents cited is one in which a drunken deputy forced himself on a hostess he had met in a bar. After following her into a secluded parking lot, he drew his semi-automatic weapon and told the woman he wanted to molest her. That act resulted in a charge of one count of battery and a guilty plea to a reduced charge of disturbing the peace. He was suspended for 15 days without pay, but not fired, the report states.
In another incident at a New Year’s Eve party last year, an off-duty deputy who had been drinking heavily began admiring a new holster he received as a gift for his service revolver. The deputy — whose name was not released — asked his cousin to hold his weapon, but it accidentally discharged, shooting his cousin in the lower abdomen. The victim recovered. The LA County DA’s Office ruled the shooting was accidental.
“I think law enforcement agencies are no longer hesitating in arresting their own,” said Michael Gennaco, chief attorney for the Office Independent Review. “In days gone by, they would have more likely than not handled these kinds of things outside the system by escorting them home or having a friend pick them up.”
But those days of professional courtesy are over, according to Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore.
“If they want to drink that’s fine, but they can’t have their guns,” Whitmore told the Weekly. “If they have their guns, they can’t have alcohol.”
Baca and the unions were unable to come to an agreement during contract negotiations earlier this year and remain far apart on the issue of deputies carrying their weapons and drinking alcohol, despite efforts made by an independent mediator. Both sides will have a chance to argue their cases in front of the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission, which serves as the administrative appeals body for a number of cities that directly contract with the county.
So far, the item has not been placed on the agenda, according to Brian Moriguchi, president of the Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association.
“It makes no sense to take those guns out of the [deputies’] hands,” Moriguchi said. “The idea should be to fix the officers’ behavior.”
Old issue
“If they’re too drunk to drive a car then they’re certainly too drunk to use a gun. It’s common sense, but law enforcement agencies resist that, and it gets them in trouble all the time. It’s just a recurring problem that does not need to exist,” Watson told the Pasadena Weekly in 2002 after an off-duty officer shot and killed a gang member during a fight at Tailgators, a Sierra Madre bar owned by a former LAPD officer and frequented by officers.
Watson could not be reached for comment regarding this story, but in 2002 she told Weekly reporter Jake Armstrong that between 1989 and 1995 there were 82 incidents of LAPD officers firing their weapons when they were off-duty. In 15 of those cases, officers admitted to being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. LAPD Officer Gina Onweiler, who coordinates that department’s chemical dependency program, did not return phone calls for this story.
According to Watson, in some of those cases sobriety tests were delayed for hours to give officers a chance to sober up. In the incident at Tailgators, although off-duty LAPD officer Isaac Lowe shot and killed a man during a confrontation between several bar patrons and gang members at 1:30 a.m., his BAC was not tested until 6:37 a.m. — five hours later, according to the county DA’s Justice System Integrity Division’s final report.
The investigation determined that Lowe acted in self-defense of himself and others and that, “There is no evidence that Officer Lowe’s judgment or his ability to effectively use his weapon in defense of unarmed bystanders was impaired in any way.”
Lowe — who had just returned from a two-day suspension for failing to request additional units while chasing an armed suspect — shot gang member John Chavez eight times after Chavez opened fire outside the bar with his .22 caliber weapon. In November 2002 witnesses told the Weekly that Lowe had been drinking at the bar “for hours leading up to the shooting.”
Sierra Madre Police Chief Marilyn Diaz, a former Pasadena police commander who did not join the department until 2006, four years after the Lowe incident, said that the Sierra Madre department did not investigate the incident — the Sheriff’s Department did — and could not explain the delay in the test.
Despite the unanswered questions, Moriguchi cites incidents like this one as reasons why off-duty officers should be allowed to carry their weapons. He said deputies would be ill-equipped to deal with revenge-seeking criminals they put away in the past who might recognize them.
“There are numerous instances where deputies have taken action when they were off-duty, when they saw crimes being committed and saved lives,” he said. “We deal with bad people and we may come across them. Taking away the guns leaves the deputies and their families susceptible to being victims.”
Gennaco agrees that deputies should protect their families, but says that drinking too much could hamper their ability to do that.
“The point is not to drink to the extent where you are over the legal limit,” said Gennaco. “That could put their family at an even greater risk.”
Drawing blood
Undersheriff Larry L. Waldie prints incidents of deputy arrests in a weekly bulletin circulated to members of the department, complete with phone numbers for an addiction recovery program, a peer support program and employee support services. The bulletin implores deputies to “lead by example, don’t become one.”
And that’s exactly what is expected of Pasadena police officers, according to department spokeswoman Janet Pope Givens.
“There are already a number of policies in place that are related to our expectations of our employees, whether on-duty or off-duty,” she said. “Our officers know that and we rely on their good judgment and integrity to do the right thing. If, however, we have an incident involving any off-duty personnel, we will investigate that incident and determine the appropriate discipline.”
Other nearby departments have taken steps to hold their officers accountable. In Riverside County, for instance, deputies are required to submit a blood sample if they fire their weapon. And in San Bernardino County blood samples are required if there is a reasonable suspicion that the deputy is under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
LAPD spokeswoman Officer Rosario Herrera didn’t know of any rule prohibiting officers from carrying their weapons while drinking, but said, “If you are off duty you can carry your firearm. As far as drinking, I wouldn’t know what to tell you about that.”
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Sad situation