(Mint Press) – During the February manhunt for disgruntled former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) fired 102 bullets into the truck of Emma Hernandez, 71, and her daughter, Margie Carranza, 47. Hernandez and Carranza, who were not affiliated with Dorner in any way, were working early as newspaper deliverers in Torrance, Calif. on the day of the shooting, Feb. 7.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck visited the women and offered his apologies for a case that should have — by all opinions — been fatal. “I don’t understand how they survived,” Glen Jonas, attorney for Hernandez and Carranza, said. “They’re grappling with a lot of issues — the fact that they were almost killed by the police.”
Chief Beck also arranged for the donation of a new truck for the women to continue their work. The targeting of the two women was a gross case of police misconduct and an embarrassment to the LAPD. “There were two women there. They are not black. They are not large. They were not in a car that matched. No danger was presented to the officers,” Jonas told NBC4. “It was such a mismatched identification.”
Dorner was a 270-pound, 6-foot-tall Black man driving a Nissan Titan. The two women were fair-skinned, slight-built Latinas driving a Toyota Tundra.
However, the LAPD’s attempt to patch over hurt feelings fell apart when the city required the women to fill out a 1099 form for the taxes on the new truck, a $32,560 2013 Ford 150 SuperCrew, and pose for publicity photos.
The women refused the truck.
Police have stated it was a “case of mistaken identity.” Dorner — who, in his flight, has targeted and killed LAPD officers — has caused the anxiety of the police force to peak, causing the police to overreact. Without identifying the driver of the truck and based only on a generalized description of the vehicle Dorner was travelling in, eight officers opened fire on Hernandez and Carranza. Both women were wounded.
Carranza received shattered glass injuries and a wounded finger. Hernandez suffered two bullet wounds to the back. The wounds are considered life-threatening.
“The grandmother, Emma, starts saying, ‘God have mercy on us,’ because she thinks for sure they’re going to die,” Jonas said. “She then clutches around the back seat of her daughter to protect her from the gunshots because her daughter has children.”
The eight officers that opened fire were on a protective detail for an officer threatened by Dorner. All eight officers were placed on administrative leave and are now assigned to non-field assignments “until the (police) chief decides otherwise.”
Residents in the area where the shooting happened has found five bullet holes in one house’s front door and more in the walls and garages lining the street, suggesting that police were shooting haphazardly.
“My guess is that they threw policy out the window and got in trouble,” area resident Steve McDonald said, whose solar panels sustained bullet damage. “They’re lucky they didn’t hit each other because there were bullets flying every which way.”
Good deeds versus good press
“You tried to murder the woman, now you’re telling her she can’t have a four-wheel drive, you’re telling her she can’t sell it and you’ve got to be taxed on it?” Jonas said. “How would anyone react to that?”
“It’s really sad for us because we want to help these women move on with their lives, and help them move forward with that, we just can’t get past the 1099 issue,” LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said. “The government has to take their bite out of it, I guess.”
Jonas is currently planning on filing a government claim, which is the precursor to any lawsuit filed against a government agency. The lawyer feels that the truck is being offered as a “reward or a prize” instead as a sincere gesture from the LAPD.
Under the law, police are not liable to compensate for damages to property in the normal course of performing its duties. For example, if a police officer breaks down a door to make an arrest, the officer is not personally or professionally liable for replacing that door.
However, in cases of police misconduct, the police officer or the law enforcement agency can be sued for negligence. The plaintiff can attach a damage claim for destroyed or damaged property to the litigation, and if a judge rule that the police action was improper, the police would be liable for recouping the loss.
Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has offered his help to ensure that the women receive their truck, condition-free. In an interview with KFI AM 640, Trutanich said, “Giving them [Hernandez and Carranza] a truck should be a very simple matter. There is no tax issue, they suffered a loss. And so if their loss is at the hand of the city of Los Angeles, that’s not a taxable event; they’re just being recouped for what they lost.”
Trutanich has promised to work with Jonas toward a fair settlement for the women, who have not been able to work because of the lack of a vehicle and because of fear.
The only tax that the women would have been required to pay for the truck is the income tax. Galpin Ford, the dealership that donated the truck, offered to pay the sales tax, vehicle registration and title fees on the truck.
Twenty-five minutes after the Torrance shootings, the police fired again at bystanders in a case of mistaken identity at a second location. No one was hurt by gunfire, but the driver of the involved truck, David Perdue, was injured when a police cruiser smashed into his Honda Ridgeline. Neither the truck nor the driver matched the description for Dorner.
Dorner is believed to have killed three people prior to his fatal standoff at Big Bear Lake, including a police officer and the daughter of a former police captain that represented Dorner in his dismissal hearing. Dorner ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.