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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBWC SUMMARIES INV J. CISLO 21-032545.031_RedactedPROPERTY/EVIDENCE Related To:INFORMATION REPORT Property Description: U S B Flash Drive Miscellaneous Description: OS21-032545.23 - USB FLASH DRIVE FROM HBPD - BODY WORN CAMERA FOOTAGE AND 1 CIVILIAN VIDEO FCN Number: NARRATIVE Recordings / Records provided by HBPD: On Friday, October 1, 2021 at about 15:00 hours, Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD) Detective Zack Pricer #1185 gave me a USB flash drive related the the HBPD Officer Involved Shooting (OIS) that occurred on Saturday, September 25, 2021. The flash contained content provided by HBPD Professional Standards Unit Sergeant Brian Jones #1018. The content on the USB flash drive was as follows: 1. (5) Audio Files- a. Green-1 Radio traffic of the OIS. b. Anonymous call stating shots fired at U.S. Open. c. Witness phone call to Dispatch. d. Witness phone call to Dispatch. e. Witness phone call to Dispatch. 2. (25) AXON Body Worn Camera (BWC) footage - OIS not captured. 3. (2) AXON BWC footage of OIS. a. Officer Simpson. b. Officer Velasco. 4. HBPD Dispatch Log. 5. Overhead video footage of crime scene from HBPD drone. _____ BWC SUMMARIES: The following are summaries of the BWC footage captured by the BWC's of HBPD Officers Christopher Simpson #3013 and Officer Damian Velasco #2045. These summaries are not meant to replace the actual footage. For full details of the footage, view the actual recordings themselves. At several locations within the summary, I placed time stamps to indicate about were on the video the events took place. The USB Flash Drive containing the above listed files and / or recordings was booked into Sheriff's Evidence, Santa Ana. A copy of the "true" original shall be obtained and released by Records Division Page 1 of 6 Printed by Inform RMS System Account on 10/30/2021 08:26 COPY DR #: 21-032545 Reporting Area: Homicide SUPPLEMENT _____ Officer Simpson BWC: The video footage for Officer Simpson's BWC was 13 minutes and 53 seconds in length. The first 30 seconds of the video was visual only with no audio recorded. During the no audio period, Office Simpson appeared to turn of the volume on his radio. At about 31 seconds, Officer Simpson told an unknown male, seated on boardwalk stairs, that he cannot smoke at that location. at about the same time, a radio broadcast stated a male subject was concealing something inside his waistband. Another Officer, who appeared to be Officer Nicholas Koehler #2263 was with Officer Simpson on the BWC. After the radio broadcast, Officers Simpson and Koehler walked towards the beach and underneath the pier southbound. The Sandys Beach Shack, boardwalk, and surrounding area were crowded with people. Just to the right, the male subject, later identified as could be seen walking southbound on the beach parallel to the sidewalk. was wearing a white t-shirt, dark shorts, white high socks, and white shoes. appeared to have an empty right hand with his left hand concealed beneath was looked like a dark t-shirt and a white t-shirt. The clothing items were draped in a manner that could have concealed a weapon. Officer Simpson pointed in the general area toward At about this time (0:02:11), Detective Charles Remington #1043 arrived on foot and Detective Read Parker #1041 arrived in a red all terrain vehicle (ATV). One of the officers is heard telling "Come here." backed up and placed his right under underneath the shirts. repeatedly told the officers, "Its not a good time." Officer Simpson told to relax and told the other officers that, "He's concealing something CJ." Officer Simpson told to, "Stop," but continued to walk away with both hand concealed at waist level. Detective Remington drew his gun from his holster and pointed it towards Officer Simpson drew his gun from his holster and pointed it towards At about this time, Officer Damian Velasco #2045 appeared to walk onto the beach from just north of were was. The officers advanced on foot towards and Officer Simpson told "Stop. Stop," just as raised both of his hands towards Detective Remington (0:02:28). had his feet about shoulder width apart with both of his arms locked straight out in front of him at about chest level. was pointing directly towards Detective Remington. hands appear to be together underneath the t-shirts which concealed what his was holding. The stance taken by was consistent with someone shooting a handgun. Immediately following action, about three gunshots are heard. It was not clear in the video if the shots came from or any of the HBPD officers. fell backwards onto the sand (0:02:34). Officer Simpson told "Stop. Get on the ground." Other officers were also heard telling "Get on the ground." rolled to his left and on to his hands and knees. lunged quickly forward towards the t-shirts which he had dropped when falling backwards. grabbed the shirts with his left hand and as he raised his hand, what appeared to be the black handgrip of a handgun was visible inside left hand. As grabbed the gun, about ten more shots were heard being fired. dropped the gun and went stiff on his back. From the angle it was hard to tell who fired and how many total rounds were fired, but it appeared Officers Simpson, Velasco, and Remington all fired their handguns. The officers briefly ask each other if they are, "Code 4" and if they are, "Good" to ensure none of them had been shot. Radio broadcast is heard from Sergeant Anthony Pham #1183, stating shots have been fired, a suspect was down, and they needed paramedics. 0:03:04 the officers approached Some of the officers holstered their weapons while others kept their guns pointed at to cover the other officers. One of the officers was heard saying, "He has a gun, he has a gun." As the officers approached, the weapon and t-shirts, were still well within arms reach of right hand. Detective Parker reached down and quickly moved the t-shirts and gun about 2' feet farther from A copy of the "true" original shall be obtained and released by Records Division Page 2 of 6 Printed by Inform RMS System Account on 10/30/2021 08:26 COPY DR #: 21-032545 Reporting Area: Homicide SUPPLEMENT When Detective Parker moved the shirt, a black semi-automatic pistol could be clearly seen. The officers placed protective safety gloves on. Officer Simpson quickly searched waistband for weapons and began checking to see where had been shot (0:345). breathing was agonal. Officer Simpson started directing other officers to apply pressure on wounds while they cut his clothes off to check for additional wounds. Officers started vigorously performing chest compressions on (0:05:10). Lifeguards / EMT's arrived and assisted with compressions and medical care. Office Simpson directed additional officers to start checking to make sure no one else was hit by gunfire. Officer Simpson applied two chest seals on torso. For the next several minutes, officers, lifeguards, and medics continued life saving efforts, including the use of an AED. With medical personal attending to Simpson was relieved of his spot and stepped away from assisting with medical treatment (0:08:20). The remainder of the incident shows Officer Simpson walking back to his car. As Simpson walked back along the beach (0:11:25), and unknown staff worker approached Officer Simpson and stated, "That's the same guys we reported. He came from the other event." Officer Simpson entered a HBPD patrol car and the recording ended (0:13:53). _____ Officer Velasco BWC: The video footage for Officer Velasco's BWC was 8 minutes and 57 seconds in length. The first 30 seconds of the video showed Officer Velasco exit a patrol car just north of the pier and walk southbound on the beach parallel to the boardwalk. The first 30 seconds of footage contained visual only with no audio. The video was initially shaky because of Officer Velasco walking, but could be seen walking in front of Officer Velasco about 100' feet away (0:00:32). The other officers are seen walking towards and arriving on ATV (0:01:07) same as depicted above. Officer Velasco jogged over to the other officers and positioned himself just north of about 20' feet away from him. was holding his hands out in front pointing directly at Detective Remington same as depicted above. Because Officer Velasco was standing to the right of Officer Simpson jus a few feet away, the angle of Officer Velasco's BWC was about the same, and the video did not show anything different. It appeared Officer Velasco fired about 5 shots at as lunged for the gun he dropped. After the shooting, the events were the same as depicted above. When Officer Velasco is no longer involved in the medial effort (0:06:18) the audio on his BWC is no longer active. Officer Velasco is seen with supervisors and his recording ends (0:08:57). _____ Officer Koehler BWC: The video footage for Officer Koehler's BWC was 5 minutes and 56 seconds in length. Although Officer Koehler was involved in the OIS, his camera footage only captured the CPR and medical attention given to The first 2 minutes and 36 seconds show Officer Koehler performing chest compressions on before he is relieved by a paramedic. After Officer Koehler is relieved several Officers check to make sure he is okay before his footage ends (0:05:56). _____ Sergeant Pham BWC: The video footage for Sergeant Pham was 9 minutes and 14 seconds in length. Sergeant Pham was a witnessing officer of the OIS, but did not fire his weapon. Sergeant Pham's BWC footage began just after the second volley of shots and showed on the beach just before officers approached (0:00:26). The video did not depict anything different than the events already described above. The BWC angle of Sergeant Pham A copy of the "true" original shall be obtained and released by Records Division Page 3 of 6 Printed by Inform RMS System Account on 10/30/2021 08:26 COPY DR #: 21-032545 Reporting Area: Homicide SUPPLEMENT did capture a more clear image of the gun dropped by The gun was a black semi-automatic handgun which appeared to be slight out of battery with the slide only locker about 1/4 of the way back and the barrel partially protruding from the slide. _____ Detective Parker and Detective Remington: There was no body worn camera footage for either Detective Parker or Detective Remington. _____ Lieutenant Toby Archer BWC: The video footage for Lieutenant Toby Archer was 29 minutes and 30 seconds in length. On the video, Lieutenant Archer arrived while medics were performing CPR on (0:01:06). Lieutenant Archer obtained a public safety statement from the officers and asked them who shot and how many rounds each shot (0:01:30). Detective Parker stated he shot, "two or three." Detective Remington stated he shot, "I think three." Officer Velasco stated he shot, "two to four." Officer Simpson stated he shot, "two." Another male voice stated, L.T., I was like two to three," but it was not clear from the video if the statements were made by Officer Koehler. Lieutenant Archer confirmed with other officers on scene that they were making sure no innocent bystanders had been wounded. For further, see the full video. _____ All Other BWC Footage: Amongst the other video footage from all other BWC's, there was no additional footage of the OIS or just prior to. Although some of the video clips showed medical care being administered to there was no new or differing information. The majority of the video footage showed officers assisting with crowd control and canvasing for possible witnesses. For further, see all additional video. _____ Drone Footage: The video footage recorded by the HBPD drone was 1 minute and 59 seconds in length. The video was taken after the OIS prior to sundown and gave a birds eye visual of the entire area. The video did show a layout of where the shooting occurred including evidence and vehicles still in place. _____ GREEN-1 Radio Traffic for OIS: The radio frequency used by HBPD for police communication is identified as, Green-1. The station is a recorded station. The Green-1 radio traffic recording for the OIS was 20 minutes and 15 seconds in length. The following is a summary of the radio traffic with emphasis on key moments. This summary is not meant to take the place of the actual recording. For full details, listen to the entire recording. -0:06: 3-Unifrom (Lt. Archer) radioed that WSL staff called about an intoxicated male who possible committed a petty theft. The subject was running along the beach line. Lt. Archer asked event assigned officers to head to the area in an attempt to locate the subject. A copy of the "true" original shall be obtained and released by Records Division Page 4 of 6 Printed by Inform RMS System Account on 10/30/2021 08:26 COPY DR #: 21-032545 Reporting Area: Homicide SUPPLEMENT -0:39: Lt. Archer radioed that involved parties were now under the pier. -0:54: 95X (Officer Velasco) radioed and stated he had contact with staff members who described the male as Hispanic, short and bald, wearing a white t-shirt with a basketball logo on the back, and shorts. The male had a weapon, but unknown if it was a knife or gun. Officer Velasco also stated he had not yet located the male subject. -01:36: Officer Velasco radioed the male subject, "Probably [Unknown word] a handgun." Officer Velasco stated he had a visual of the suspect who was sitting on a wall near Pier Plaza with his hand concealed near his waistband, "Officer Safety." -01:55: Unknown officer stated the male subject was walking southbound. -02:03: 91X (Officer Koehler) stated he and 94X (Officer Simpson) were on scene near Pier Plaza. -02:21: 92X (Detective Parker) stated he and 93X (Detective Remington) were on scene. -02:23: Officer Koehler stated following the male subject towards beach sub station. -02:35 Unknown officer stated the officers were making contact now with male subject. -02:44: 90S (Sergeant Pham) stated, "Shots Fired. Start medics." -03:03: Sergeant Pham requested paramedics again and stated, "One suspect down." -03:24: Unknown officer stated, "There's a gun in his waistband." -03:34: Sergeant Pham stated Officer's not injured and requested assistance with establishing a crime scene. -03:44: Unknown officer requested notification to lifeguards. -04:01: Sergeant Pham stated the scene was safe and clear for paramedics to arrive on scene. -04:17: Sergeant Pham stated, "It looks like he has a Sig SP2340 firearm." -04:35: Sergeant Pham requested officers to canvass OIS backdrop to ensure no wounded bystanders. -05:15: Sergeant Pham stated lifeguards were on scene until paramedics arrive. -07:10: Paramedics on scene and making their way towards the entrance. _____ EVIDENCE: I booked the USB Flash Drive into Sheriff's Evidence, Santa Ana. END OF REPORT INVOLVEMENT TYPE OFFICER NAME BODY WORN CAMERA DATE Supplementing Officer J . Cislo 03318 ¨10/21/2021 A copy of the "true" original shall be obtained and released by Records Division Page 5 of 6 Printed by Inform RMS System Account on 10/30/2021 08:26 COPY DR #: 21-032545 Reporting Area: Homicide SUPPLEMENT Approving Officer A . Abdelmuti 05458 ¨10/26/2021 A copy of the "true" original shall be obtained and released by Records Division Page 6 of 6 Printed by Inform RMS System Account on 10/30/2021 08:26 COPY DR #: 21-032545 Reporting Area: Homicide SUPPLEMENT