TEENS TESTIFY IN TRIAL OF DEPUTY; GANG MEMBERS SAY OFF-DUTY MAN TAILED THEM, OPENED FIRE.Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer Two teen-age members of an Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley street gang told jurors how an off-duty sheriff's deputy chased and shot at them, injuring two other teens slightly. Edgar Carranza, 19, of Palmdale said he was driving the El Camino pickup truck that Deputy Bobby Rodriguez followed after spotting its occupants marking out Marking out or layout is the process of transferring a design or pattern to a workpiece, as the first step in the manufacturing process. It is performed in many industries or hobbies although in the repetition industries the machine's initial setup is designed to remove the another gang's graffiti at a home construction site. ``I saw him in the rear-view mirror rear-view mirror Noun a mirror on a motor vehicle enabling the driver to see the traffic behind rear-view mirror rear n (Aut) → rétroviseur m ,'' said Carranza, who during his court testimony demonstrated gang signs and explained how gang members use them to communicate. ``It was real close, flashing his bright lights. When I made a right turn, I made it fast. He made it fast too and then I knew he was chasing me.'' After making the turn from 30th Street West onto Avenue J, Carranza said some of the seven other people in the truck threw rocks and an anti-car theft The Club device at the red Suburban following them. Finally Carranza said he stopped on Avenue J and some of the people in the truck got out. ``When I stepped out of the truck, I heard the shots,'' said Carranza. ``Everybody went back inside the car and I took off. I heard the ladies screaming, because Happy got shot in the arm.'' ``Happy'' is the nickname of a 16-year-old girl who was with the group. Rodriguez, a nine-year veteran with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department This article is about the Los Angeles County Sherriff's Department, not to be confused with the smaller Los Angeles County Police The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) is a local law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. , is accused of eight felonies and one misdemeanor, including assault with a deadly weapon Assault with a Deadly Weapon is the term used to describe the act of threatening to harm one or more people by using a weapon (usually a firearm). Here, assault must be differentiated from battery as they are often confused. Assault is threatening to use force. and filing a false police report. Prosecutors maintain Rodriguez chased and shot at teen-agers he caught tagging a construction site while on his way home from work early Aug. 31. Prosecutors said he then filed a false police report in which he claimed the teens assaulted him and tried to take his car. Currently out on bail, Rodriguez was placed on paid leave March 19, when he was indicted INDICTED, practice. When a man is accused by a bill of indictment preferred by a grand jury, he is said to be indicted. by a grand jury. Carranza and 16-year-old Javier Rene Garcia Rene Garcia (born July 10, 1974 in Hialeah, Florida)is a member of the Florida House of Representatives. He is of Cuban parentage. He served of the City of Hialeah City Council from 1997-2000. Mr. , the day's second witness, said the shooting capped an evening that started with smoking marijuana marijuana or marihuana, drug obtained from the flowering tops, stems, and leaves of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa (see hemp) or C. indica; the latter species can withstand colder climates. and drinking beer in Palmdale. Later they fought behind a Lancaster movie theater with a rival gang, from whom they took the spray-paint can they were using when Rodriguez saw them. Carranza was initially arrested and kept in custody for nine days following the shooting. But he said he never told authorities his side of the shooting because he believed the gunman was a member of the rival gang. ``They arrested me for carjacking The criminal taking of a motor vehicle from its driver by force, violence, or intimidation. The u.s. justice department categorizes the crime of carjacking as a "completed or attempted Robbery of a motor vehicle by a stranger ,'' said Carranza. ``I never tried carjacking. They were telling me all this stuff I didn't understand. I was confused, that's why I kept my mouth shut.'' The defense attorney attempted to impeach To accuse; to charge a liability upon; to sue. To dispute, disparage, deny, or contradict; as in to impeach a judgment or decree, or impeach a witness; or as used in the rule that a jury cannot impeach its verdict. Carranza, who at times seemed unable to understand what he was being asked and would rephrase re·phrase tr.v. re·phrased, re·phras·ing, re·phras·es To phrase again, especially to state in a new, clearer, or different way. earlier parts of his testimony. ``I didn't lie, I didn't know,'' said Carranza, when asked why his account of the shooting varied between hearing one shot and hearing two shots. ``Do you remember saying that they (others riding with him) were reaching to their waistbands messing with the victim?'' said Rodriguez's attorney Vicki Poderesky. ``No,'' responded Carranza. ``Do you remember saying he attempted to back away and you continued to throw objects and that you still had (Rodriguez's vehicle) surrounded?'' said Poderesky. ``No,'' said Carranza. Speaking after Carranza on the second day of Rodriguez' trial, 16-year-old Javier Rene Garcia showed jurors the scar a bullet fragment left on his tattooed upper left arm. ``The same time I heard the shot, I felt a burning,'' he said. Garcia testified that he and his friends didn't know who was following them, but suspected it was members of the other gang. ``We said `What's up, what do you want?' '' Garcia said. After he was shot, Garcia said he tried to shield with his body the two girls with them in the El Camino. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion