# CA Deputy felt threatened when he shot airman



## JoninNH (Jan 29, 2004)

Deputy who shot Calif. airman felt threatened, his father says 

By GREG RISLING
Associated Press Writer

SAN BERNARDINO, California- The father of a deputy who was videotaped shooting an unarmed Air Force security officer said his son fired because he felt threatened. The wounded airman's family demanded the deputy be arrested.



Meanwhile, the man who videotaped the incident, Jose Luis Valdes, was taken into custody Friday for an alleged assault in Florida, officials said.

The deputy's father, former Compton Police Chief Ivory John Webb Sr., questioned claims that his son shot Senior Airman Elio Carrion three times as he complied with the deputy's order to "get up."

The videotape showed Carrion, 21, on the ground talking with San Bernardino County sheriff's Deputy Ivory J. Webb, who stood pointing a gun at him. A recorded voice appeared to be commanding Carrion to "get up." As Carrion began to rise, the deputy fired three shots into him.

A few moments earlier, however, a voice appears to say "stay down" although that portion of the recording is less clear. The senior Webb said his son may have shouted for Carrion to "shut up," and he called for the tape to be thoroughly evaluated.

His son told him he felt his life was in danger when Carrion began to get up, he said.

"He did feel threatened when (Carrion) began to raise," Webb said Friday. "It was a surprise, and he had a split second to react.

"If Carrion had got down and stayed down, none of this would have happened."

Valdes taped the scene Sunday night after a car involved in a brief high-speed chase crashed into a wall by his home, 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Los Angeles. Carrion, who had recently returned from Iraq, was a passenger in the car driven by a friend.

Webb, 45, who has more than 10 years with the department, was placed on paid administrative leave.

The FBI has opened a civil rights investigation of the shooting but Carrion's family said Friday that more must be done.

"My family is outraged because this person hasn't been arrested and is on paid vacation," Carrion's wife, Mariela, said at a news conference outside sheriff's headquarters.

She said her husband was doing "good." He was discharged Friday night from Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.

Attorney Luis Carrillo, who represents Valdes and Carrion's family, said federal authorities should arrest the deputy for civil rights violations if local authorities do not make an arrest.

"Their son is a hero," Carrillo said. "He went to Iraq and thank God he didn't get a bullet, but he comes home and he gets three bullets...."

The Sheriff's Department had not contacted the Carrion family since the shooting and had no comment on the demand for an arrest, spokeswoman Jodi Miller said.

Carrillo also said the arrest of Valdes appeared to be "some kind of retribution on a good Samaritan who taped something that law enforcement didn't want the public to see."

Valdes was taken into custody by Pomona police on a no bail warrant for aggravated assault with a firearm from Dade County, Florida. The warrant came up during a routine background check when Valdes went to an immigration office for an interview to renew his alien registration "green card," Pomona police said in a statement.

He was arrested and booked at the Pomona City Jail pending his extradition to Florida, police said.

The warrant alleges Valdes used a weapon to assault an elderly woman in Miami, said two federal immigration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because their agencies did not handle the arrest.

Valdes, contacted by cell phone, confirmed he had been arrested but said the only problem he had in Miami was an arrest for driving under the influence. He did not elaborate about that arrest, but said authorities wanted to send him back to Florida within 24 hours.

"They want to get me out of California as soon as possible," Valdes said in Spanish. "They say I was involved in gunfire in Miami."

He did not provide other details.

___

Associated Press Writers Sandy Cohen and Robert Jablon in Los Angeles contributed to this story.


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## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

Only time will tell how this works out but I'm getting tired of everyone being a "hero".
You were in the military, you went into a theater of combat, did your job, and came home... that doesn't automatically make you a "hero". Hell now even teachers are "heros" because they are doing the job they were paid to do...come on....

rant off.


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## Macop (May 2, 2002)

I hear ya. I can't believe they are demading the arrest of the Deputy before any type of investigation has been done. What the hell is wrong with these people, I understand they are upset, I certainly don't fault them for thier feelings but there needs to be an in depth investigation before people start getting locked up.


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## Guest (Feb 7, 2006)

This all started because this hero and his pal FAILED to stop for police and fled. A disciplined member of the United States Armed Forces would know that he should submit to authority. The shooting may or may not have being justified, but who let it even get to that point? The hero.


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## K9Vinny (Sep 25, 2005)

Maybe the war hero can tell us what would happen in Iraq if someone they tried to stop fled from the U.S. military. Apples and oranges, but the analogy can be made.


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## Se7en (Nov 29, 2004)

Listening to the video, it certainly sounds like the Deputy is telling him to get up, however I haven't heard the unedited version of the video. If what I did hear was correct, the Deputy should see his career vanish and as I stated before, the airman will cash out on this one.

As for the airman not having a "bitch" are you f-cking kidding me, he was shot three times and he was unarmed. Get a clue, the Deputy shot an unarmed man, who verbally jabbed with the trigger happy (former) Deputy.

Is that thin blue line covering your eyes? There's a time to stick up and be there for a brother officer (Arkansas/Nevada) but this isn't one of them.


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## Se7en (Nov 29, 2004)

You're right the investigation isn't complete, however from what "little" I viewed, the Deputy f-cked up. He lost the verbal judo battle, was too geeked up and shot an UNARMED man. He should be FIRED! If there's more to it, lets hear it for the Deputies sake, if not he could face jail time. He better have a good lawyer.


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## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

The Deputy better thank the high spirit Johnny Cochran is dead!!! Now pay the airman his million dollars.


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## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

Innocent till proven guilty, it works for the shitbirds, it should work for the cops.


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## MVS (Jul 2, 2003)

From what I recalled from when the video first came out, I thought the "other" deputy was ordering him to stand up and then when he did thats when Deputy Webb shot him.


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## JoninNH (Jan 29, 2004)

RPD931 said:


> From what I recalled from when the video first came out, I thought the "other" deputy was ordering him to stand up and then when he did thats when Deputy Webb shot him.


It's entirely possible that the deputy was saying "don't get up" or "shut up" and the video just doesn't show that. We were not there in the deputy's shoes, so we should not be sitting here a thousand miles away passing judgement on what we viewed on a three minute tape shot by a felon that obiously doens't show the entire event.



> As for the airman not having a "bitch" are you f-cking kidding me, he was shot three times and he was unarmed. Get a clue, the Deputy shot an unarmed man, who verbally jabbed with the trigger happy (former) Deputy.


Does the video look bad? Sure it does. But I think we should all step back and realize that the videos rarely, if ever, show the who story. Deputy Webb isn't a rookie, he has a decade of service with his department. Does that fact make it a justified shooting? No, of course not. But I find it disturbing that members of this forum are attacking the deputy or forming their own opinions on his culpability before the investigation is even completed, and without all the facts.

Please feel free to contact the San Bernardino Sheriff's cheese eaters if you think you have something to offer off the video. I'm sure they'd love to hear from you. I for one, do not. It's bad enough the shitbirds are bitching about it, the media is hyping it, the lawyers are salivating over it, and John Q. Public believes it's horrible because all he knows is what the talking heads tell him, but no, we have cops judging other cops here.

Until I see and hear an official report that convinces me that the deputy was wrong, I am going to back the deputy 100%.



> Innocent till proven guilty, it works for the shitbirds, it should work for the cops.


Exactly!


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## K9Vinny (Sep 25, 2005)

Can you imagine if the races were reversed? OMG, there would be rioting in the streets.


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