The Region : 2 Ex-Officers Charged in Shooting Case

Two former Monterey Park police officers have been charged with brandishing a firearm and filing a false report stemming from an incident in which one of them fired his pistol at a vehicle on the San Bernardino Freeway. Kenneth Vest and Rafael Mercado, both 24, were fired after the March, 1985, off-duty episode in which Mercado fired one shot after he and his partner exchanged taunting gestures with four occupants in an adjacent car, the district attorney’s office said. The shot missed the other car. Vest and Mercado, who surrendered in Los Angeles Municipal Court on the misdemeanor charges, were found to have lied to their superiors about the incident after an internal Police Department investigation.