Ex-Officer Says He Was Goaded Into Firing Gun : Seeking Reinstatement, He Tells Panel He Was Drunk When He Shot in Air, Denies Cover-Up

A former Santa Ana police officer, who was fired after admitting that he shot his gun into the air after a late-night drinking session with other officers last June, testified Wednesday that he was drunk at the time and was goaded into firing his weapon.

Paul Coulter, 26, testified at a hearing before the city’s six-member personnel board that lasted late into the night in an attempt to win a reversal of Deputy Chief Eugene Hansen’s decision to fire him. Coulter said he did not participate in a conspiracy to cover up the shooting.

“I didn’t like what was happening, and I didn’t want to be involved,” Coulter said.

He also testified that off-duty drinking sessions by Santa Ana police officers were common and that he had heard that shots had been fired during other such gatherings.

Coulter and six other officers had been drinking in a Tustin bar and gathered atop the Orange County Transit District parking garage to drink more beer in the early-morning hours of June 18, 1986. About 2:30 a.m., four of the officers fired their guns, and at least one bullet struck a wall across the street in the office of an aide to Supervisor Roger Stanton, according to the results of an internal police investigation.

Coulter said he fired his gun once 15 or 20 minutes later after trying to leave and being taunted by the other four.

During the Police Department’s investigation, Deputy City Atty. Terrence Grace offered Coulter a 90-day suspension if he would testify against the other officers involved. Coulter said Grace told him that he would have four days to consider the offer and that he would have accepted but the deal was withdrawn a day later after other officers came forward and divulged details of the incident.

Coulter is the only one of the five officers who fired their guns during the incident who is seeking reinstatement. Two of the other four, James Bland and Scott Zimmerman, resigned from the force, and Jill Tangedahl and Jesse Teshima were fired. The two officers at the scene of the incident who did not fire their guns were given suspensions.

Last week, at the beginning of the personnel board’s hearing, Hansen testified that Coulter’s reinstatement would seriously affect department morale. He said reinstatement would be especially troublesome in light of community complaints about private citizens firing guns on New Year’s Eve.

Hansen said he based his decision to fire Coulter on the results of the internal investigation.

Coulter’s attorney, Malcolm Guleserian, said Wednesday that Hansen was mistaken in his belief that Coulter participated in meetings to discuss covering up the incident.

Guleserian also said he believed that Hansen did not read the investigation report but was briefed by other officers.

Hansen could not be reached for comment Wednesday.