Man Is Guilty of Kidnaping, Attempted Murder of Irvine Officer

An Arizona man was convicted Tuesday of kidnaping and attempted murder in the case of a police officer whose own daring led to the man’s arrest last September.

Irvine Police Officer Thomas P. Friday has been on medical leave since shortly after the incident because of mental stress. But he has been lauded for his actions in the case and the incident has been re-created by Irvine police for use in training films as an example of excellent police work.

Edward M. Reyna, 43, of Peoria, Ariz., was accused of taking away Friday’s police revolver, forcing him to drive him toward Mexico in his patrol car and attempting to shoot the officer in a struggle over the gun.

Jurors returned a verdict after just half a day of deliberation. Superior Court Judge James K. Turner scheduled sentencing for Feb. 27 for Reyna, who faces up to 14 years in prison.

“Officer Friday is a real hero,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Mathew Scott Vallance. “Very few people could have done what he did.”

The incident occurred last Sept. 19, on Friday’s fourth day on patrol with the Irvine Police Department. Here is what happened, based on testimony from both Friday and Reyna:

Friday, alone in a patrol car, stopped Reyna’s southbound car after seeing it weave on the Santa Ana Freeway about 1:30 a.m. Reyna was passing through Orange County on a return trip to Arizona from Fresno, where he was visiting relatives.

When the two got out of their cars, Friday discovered that Reyna was carrying two vials of cocaine. He ordered Reyna to lie on the ground while he called for backup help. Reyna then slugged the officer and began to wrestle with him in an attempt to grab the officer’s gun.

Friday testified that Reyna bit him, pulled his hair and tried to gouge his eyes out. The two rolled into the ice plant bordering the freeway and ended up against a chain-link fence 30 feet away.

Threatened With Death

Reyna managed to get Friday’s .357 revolver and ordered him into the patrol car under threat of death. With the hammer on the gun cocked and the barrel pointed at Friday’s chest, Reyna ordered Friday to drive him to Mexico.

Friday at first began weaving the car across two lanes in attempt to attract attention. He stopped after Reyna said, “Stop that . . . or I’ll kill you.”

After Friday had driven just over a mile, he noticed that Reyna had uncocked the revolver. Friday immediately slammed on the brakes and grabbed the cylinder of the gun. Prosecutors later explained that an uncocked revolver will not fire if the cylinder is immobilized.

“What were you trying to do at this time?” Friday was asked by a prosecutor at one hearing.

“Save my life,” Friday answered.

The two fell out of the car, struggling over the gun. Friday said the fight lasted about 2 1/2 minutes. Reyna still had his finger on the trigger when Irvine Police Officer Abby Horst arrived and helped Friday place Reyna under arrest.

Denied Trying to Fire

Reyna essentially agreed with Friday’s testimony with one exception: Friday said that Reyna repeatedly tried to shoot him after he grabbed the gun. Reyna denied attempting to shoot him.

“Obviously, the jury believed the officer,” said Deputy Public Defender Stephen J. Biskar. “But it’s not that significant, really. We admitted the kidnaping, and that by itself could mean a 10-year sentence.”

Reyna testified that he fought Friday for his gun because he was wanted on a warrant for failing to appear in court on a drug charge in Arizona and did not want to be returned there in custody.

After the incident, Friday was given a leave of absence.

“We’ve been working very closely with him and we hope that he will be able to return,” said Irvine Police Chief Leo Peart. “But we’re concerned about him. It’s been very hard on him.”

Peart praised Friday for “excellent police procedure” and said officers in the department recreated the incident for use in helping to train new recruits.

Friday was a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy for two years and worked for the Anaheim Police Department while in training to become an Irvine policeman. He had been with the Irvine Police Department about three months when the incident occurred but had not been out on regular patrol until the week he was abducted.

Biskar questioned Friday at length about his psychological problems since the incident. Biskar said later he was attempting to show that Friday may have invented the attempted murder incident to help justify his medical leave. But jurors said they considered the officer’s testimony highly credible.