Policeman Almost Let Cinco Go, Witness Says

One of two teen-age girls who was with accused murderer Joselito Cinco on the night that he shot and killed two San Diego police officers testified Wednesday that Officer Timothy Ruopp was going to let Cinco take the girls home without incident but changed his mind when he learned that they were drinking whiskey, an otherwise routine police decision that sparked the violent nighttime confrontation.

Dana Andreasen, who was with Cinco and another man on the night of the shootings, testified during the third day of Cinco’s murder trial that Ruopp had agreed that it would be “a good idea” if Cinco took the girls home after he learned that they were minors. On Sept. 14, 1984, Andreasen and Gina Hensel had accompanied Cinco, 28, and Victor Casillas, 26, to an area of Balboa Park called Grape Street Park, where they were contacted by Ruopp at 11 p.m.

Andreasen, who was 15 then, and Hensel, who was 16 at the time, rode to the park with the two men in Casillas’ Mustang convertible. In addition to drinking whiskey, Andreasen said that she and Hensel had also ingested methamphetamines provided by Cinco moments before Ruopp arrived.

Andreasen, who is 18 now and pregnant, testified as a prosecution witness on the third day of Cinco’s murder trial. According to Andreasen, she had met Cinco at his brother’s house in Mira Mesa on the night before the killings. She was drinking gin and tonic when Cinco arrived with a male friend, Andreasen testified.

Showed Off Pistol

Though the evening was warm and balmy, Cinco was dressed in a black jacket. While he was playing pool at the house, Cinco took off his jacket to show off a shoulder holster and pistol, Andreasen said.

“I remember him taking it out of the holster . . . under the jacket,” she said.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Richard Neely said this was the same 9-millimeter automatic pistol that Cinco used to kill Ruopp, Officer Kimberly Tonahill and wound Officer Gary Mitrovich. Mitrovich, who is back on the force, also testified Wednesday and identified Cinco as his attacker.

After leaving the house with Cinco, Andreasen said she accompanied him into the early morning hours while he visited friends. When Cinco took her home, she agreed to see him the following night and bring Hensel with her.

On the following night, Cinco and Casillas picked up the two girls at 10 p.m. and the four ended up at Grape Street Park, after the two men stopped to buy a bottle of whiskey and a soft drink. Once at the park, the four poured the liquor into paper cups and the two girls used a straw to ingest the methamphetamines. This gave her a nosebleed, said Andreasen.

Afraid of Dark

At one point, Andreasen said that she told Cinco that she was afraid of the darkened park, but Cinco told her not to worry because he had a pistol in a shoulder holster under a black jacket he was wearing. A few minutes later, Ruopp drove into the park’s parking lot and drove his police cruiser by the two couples.

Ruopp, a 7 1/2-year veteran of the department, made a U-turn and came back to talk them, Andreasen said. While questioning them, Ruopp also asked them their ages.

“The officer asked, ‘Isn’t it a little late for these young ladies to be out this evening?’ ” Andreasen said. Cinco agreed and promptly offered to take them home, she added.

“The officer said it was a good idea,” said Andreasen.

But then Ruopp learned that Cinco and Casillas were drinking whiskey.

“The officer said, ‘I hope you’re not giving this to the young ladies,’ ” Andreasen testified.

Then Things Changed

At that moment, the complexion of what started out as a routine police contact changed tragically. Upon learning that the girls were also drinking, Ruopp put them in the back of his patrol car. He then began to write out misdemeanor citations for Cinco and Casillas for providing liquor to minors. While writing the tickets, Ruopp called for a backup.

Mitrovich, who was patrolling in Golden Hill Park on the night of the incident, said that he heard Ruopp call for “a backup, but without urgency.” Tonahill, who was returning from checking out a minor traffic violation, was ordered by a dispatcher to Grape Street Park.

Tonahill “was smiling” when she arrived, Andreasen said. Though Tonahill acknowledged the dispatcher’s order that sent her to the park, she never called in to alert the dispatcher that she had arrived, Mitrovich said.

According to previous testimony and police reports, the shooting began when Tonahill attempted to search Cinco. Cinco pushed Tonahill back and then pulled out the pistol, which he used to shoot the three officers. Tonahill was shot four times at point-blank range and died at the scene. Ruopp was shot in the leg and calf before Cinco fired a round into his head. He died two days later.

Tonahill, 24, and Ruopp, 31, never drew their guns.

Mitrovich, 29, testified that he decided to drive to Grape Street Park when Ruopp asked for a backup and heard the shootings as he was approaching the parking lot.

“It was like an explosion of gunfire, one after the other,” Mitrovich, who has been with the department for 7 1/2 years, said.

As he walked across the parking lot, he saw Ruopp lying behind his patrol car, bleeding from a head wound, Mitrovich said. Prosecutors played a police communications tape that included the conversations of several officers during the confusion that ensued.

Mitrovich, a soft-spoken slender man, is heard calmly telling the dispatcher that one, possibly two, officers are down.

“Officers down. Grape Street Park. I’ve got one, two officers down, I think,” Mitrovich said. Moments later, Cinco fired several shots at him, Mitrovich said, and he radioed back that he had been wounded.

“I’ve been hit,” Mitrovich said on the tape. The dispatcher is heard sending out a call for assistance with the message that Mitrovich is down.

“I may have a couple of officers down here. I don’t know who’s out here right now,” Mitrovich said as he is heard cutting into the dispatcher’s transmission.

Suspects on the Run

After finding Tonahill laying a few feet away from Ruopp, Mitrovich, though suffering from a bullet wound to the shoulder, calmly called the dispatcher to tell her that two suspects have run away.

” . . . I’ve got people, uh, rabbits from the area. They’re into the park. (Ambulances) for two,” said Mitrovich on the tape.

Cinco and Casillas escaped into a nearby canyon but were captured after a massive manhunt by police. Casillas, who was not charged in the incident, is expected to testify today against Cinco. Hensel, who met Casillas on the night of the shootings and has since married him, is also expected to testify.

Tonahill was laying face down on a berm that separated the parking lot from the ground and “was having great difficulty breathing,” Mitrovich said. Ruopp did not respond to his voice, Mitrovich added.

“I turned her (Tonahill) over . . . I didn’t notice a wound. Her eyes were closed . . . I tried to remove her bullet proof vest to see if I could render assistance,” Mitrovich said.

A coroner’s report later said that Tonahill died from a bullet that entered her side, through a gap where the armored vest joined. The bullet tore through a lung and ripped her heart.

Mitrovich concluded his testimony Wednesday, during which he never looked at his attacker except when asked to identify him.