Officers cleared in child’s killing

The LAPD officers who stormed a South L.A. auto shop last year, killing 19-month-old hostage Suzie Pena during a gun battle with her father, followed department rules and should not be punished, the Police Commission ruled Tuesday.

But the oversight panel found problems in the way the Los Angeles Police Department field command responded and managed the crisis and singled out for potential discipline two officers who fired their weapons from the periphery very early in the 2 1/2 -hour siege.

“There was a systemic breakdown at the command and leadership level,” Commission President John Mack said. “This incident is nothing short of tragic. It’s tragic for all of us. The officers involved, and the community at large. It is a loss for Los Angeles and will be remembered as a sad and tragic day in our history.”

One SWAT officer was wounded in the gun battle with Jose Raul Pena, who held his daughter in his arm as he repeatedly fired his gun at officers at his Watts car sales business in July 2005.

The commission announcement came hours after the district attorney cleared of criminal wrongdoing the 11 police officers who fired their weapons, even as the toddler’s family and community activists demanded that the panel discipline the officers involved in the confrontation.

The commission announced its finding after a nine-hour, closed-door meeting with Police Chief William J. Bratton in which the panel unanimously backed all of his recommendations on which officers acted in and out of policy.

Mack and other panelists said the SWAT standoff highlighted shortcomings in the way the LAPD handles such incidents -- including communications among elite units -- that must be immediately addressed.

Specifically, the commission wants to hold commanders managing the scene more accountable for the actions of officers on the ground. The panel ordered Bratton in the future to review the actions of commanders with the same degree of detail that officers’ actions receive.

Other reforms proposed include modifications for the use of urban police rifles and better training for officers as well as commanders and an examination of how to better storm a building in hostage situations.

Altogether, 13 officers, three sergeants and one lieutenant were ordered to undergo additional training because of concerns about their tactics during the incident.

The commission went out of its way to clear the handful of officers who actually stormed the building at the end of the standoff. In fact, the panel said many officers involved in the case “took courageous steps to defuse a frightening situation.”

They noted that Suzie’s father fired 15 of his 39 rounds at the officers in the final moments of the conflict while holding his daughter in his arms.

But they also found that two officers who fired and missed Pena from the periphery of the site near the beginning of the confrontation violated department policy in their tactics and the firing of their weapons.

Suzi’s mother, Lorena Lopez, said afterward that she was disappointed that the officers involved in the final confrontation were not found to have violated policy.

“I did not get justice,” Lopez said, adding that she would press ahead with her lawsuit “to get justice.”

Bratton acknowledged the command and control concerns and said some officers will be disciplined and receive training as a result of failing to follow department policy on tactics and the use of force.

“This was not a good day for anybody,” Bratton said. “It was a tragic day.”

But, he added that officers did an “outstanding job” overall, given the chaotic situation.

“I want to commend the men and women of this department who in every instance of this incident behaved courageously, marching toward danger, every one of whose interest and intent was to save the life of the hostages,” Bratton said.

His use of the word “outstanding” drew a sharp rebuke from Luis Carrillo, the attorney for Lopez.

“The police could have waited before storming in like cowboys,” Carrillo told the chief and commission as he and the family stormed out of the meeting. “It was not an outstanding day when a baby died at the end of the day.”

Hours earlier, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced that it had declined to file criminal charges against the officers involved in the standoff.

A report by that office found that the officers acted in defense of their own lives when they shot and killed Pena and “inadvertently hit with rounds” and killed Suzie, who was being used as a shield.

In a 10-page letter, Deputy Dist. Atty. Renee S. Cartaya wrote that the 11 officers “acted lawfully in self-defense and in defense of others when they used deadly force against Jose Pena.” Prosecutors noted that Pena was using cocaine, engaged in a series of gun battles and had become irrational and told police he was fictional gangster Tony Montana from the movie “Scarface.”

Police commissioners and prosecutors were particularly affected by tapes of telephone conversations during the siege.

Pena told an officer by phone earlier, according to prosecutors, “I’m going to hell. Me and the baby will go to hell before I ever leave this baby with my wife.”

A 15-month investigation was unable to determine which of the officers killed the child as they tried to rescue her from her father’s arms.

Commissioners agreed with Bratton that ultimately, Jose Pena was responsible for the toddler’s death.

According to the district’s attorney’s account, the final confrontation began about 6:20 p.m. after Pena cut off communications and appeared with a pistol in his waistband.

He was holding the child by a backdoor and refused an order to put her down.

Seeing Pena trying to draw his weapon, Officer Dennis O’Sullivan, positioned on top of an armored vehicle, fired at him, according to the report.

SWAT Officer Chester McMillion then ordered an emergency assault after seeing Pena flinch as if he had been struck.

Once inside, officers found that Pena had fled to an inner office. SWAT officers heard gunshots and saw bullets come through the wall of the office, the report said.

Deploying a flash-bang device, Officers Dan Sanchez, Eduardo Perez, William Casey and Robert Gallegos Jr. entered the office and a gun battle ensued. Sanchez was shot in the shoulder by Pena.

Seeing Pena slump behind the desk with the baby on his lap, an officer rushed forward to grab the child only to realize Suzie had been fatally wounded. Simultaneously, prosecutors said, Pena reached for his pistol and Perez and Gallegos shot him in the head.

The toddler’s family disputed the district attorney’s finding that the officers acted in self-defense.

“There were plenty of police officers. The SWAT team was there,” said Suzie’s sister Ilsy DePaz, who was rescued from the scene by police.

“I don’t see how they were acting in defense,” she said. “You don’t shoot a flash-bang grenade into a small office and expect for a little baby to come out alive.”

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patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com richard.winton@latimes.com