Simi Police Fire Officer, Call His Ambush Tale a Lie

A Simi Valley reserve police officer who said that a group of men ambushed and shot him last week has been dismissed from the force after investigators concluded that he shot himself and fabricated the incident, Simi Valley police said Tuesday.

Richard A. Todd, 26, was removed from the volunteer reserve force Monday night after investigators interviewed him a second time about the shooting, Lt. Rick TerBorch said.

Todd suffered a gunshot to his right hand in the Oct. 9 incident, TerBorch said. Shots also were fired point-blank at Todd’s chest and abdomen, but a bulletproof vest deflected the bullets, TerBorch said. Another bullet pierced the reserve officer’s left shoe, but his foot was not injured, TerBorch said.

‘Planned Deception’

Todd was not arrested, but the Ventura County district attorney’s office will be asked to file misdemeanor charges of false reporting of an emergency and filing a false police report, TerBorch said. The district attorney is expected to decide by the end of the week whether to file the charges, TerBorch said.

“It was a premeditated, planned deception,” TerBorch said. He would not discuss, however, what police believe Todd’s motive was or how police believe the reserve officer shot himself.

TerBorch said that Todd, a reserve officer for a little more than a year, came under suspicion over the weekend when tests by the city’s crime lab failed to corroborate his story.

Besides, 15 other officers investigating the case said their informants around Simi Valley could give them no information about the shooting or any suspects, TerBorch said. “That caused a lot of suspicion,” he commented.

On Monday morning, detectives reviewed the evidence and concluded that Todd had made up the story of the ambush, TerBorch said. They confronted Todd that day, he said.

TerBorch would not comment on whether Todd had admitted fabricating the elaborate story, which led police to distribute a composite drawing of a suspect.

Todd could not be reached for comment.

Blow to Police Department

The incident is another blow to a department that has been working in recent years to improve officer conduct and morale, as well as its public image, after accusations by city residents and a grand jury of brutality and unprofessional behavior.

Last month, Simi Valley City Manager M. L. Koester upheld Police Chief Lindsay P. Miller’s firing of an officer who was convicted of assault under the color of authority for spraying tear gas at a handcuffed prisoner. A city hearing officer had recommended that the policeman be suspended for 30 days.

In the wake of the Todd case, TerBorch said: “The department is depressed. The department feels betrayed and in many respects embarrassed.”

TerBorch said the reserve officer training program is under review because of the incident. But he said that neither background checks on Todd nor his previous performance had indicated any problems.

The reserve program has 11 non-paid officers who wear regular police uniforms, carry weapons and make regular patrols. Reserve candidates receive 310 hours of police academy training and 200 hours of field training, TerBorch said.

Officer’s Account

Last week, police said that Todd was shot shortly after 9 p.m. after he spotted a suspicious man in the parking lot of Simi Valley High School and followed him to a baseball field on campus.

Police said Todd told them that a group of men was waiting there and attacked him. They fired several shots at the officer, handcuffed him to a baseball backstop and fled, according to the account. Todd reportedly told investigators that one of the suspects returned shortly afterward, freed him, then fled again.

Todd was treated at Simi Valley Adventist Hospital; he was released Saturday.

TerBorch said that the cost of the investigation was “quite high,” and that the department may sue Todd to recover its costs.