Sepulveda Man Charged With Assaulting Officer : Police Shooting Unprovoked, Witnesses Testify

Two people who saw a Sepulveda man shot by a police officer testified Thursday that he was unarmed and had his hands behind his back when he was shot.

Jaime Cardona, 25, paralyzed from the waist down in the shooting, is charged with assaulting a police officer and several lesser crimes stemming from an altercation March 23 with two policewomen outside his apartment building.

The shooting occurred at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Parthenia Place after a passer-by called to report a man with a gun, according to testimony in a preliminary hearing.

Officer Jayme Weaver testified that when she and Officer Peggy Moseley arrived, the caller told them a man in a yellow Chevrolet was the gunman. The officers saw a car going by that fit the description, followed it for about three minutes and then turned on their emergency lights and siren, Weaver testified. The driver, Cardona, pulled over when he reached the driveway of his apartment building, she said.

Hands Up

Two officers then took positions behind their open car doors and ordered him to come out of the car with his hands up, according to police reports.

Weaver testified Tuesday that Cardona did not put his hands up. Instead, he advanced toward her and grabbed the barrel of the service revolver she was holding, she said. Then Moseley fired a shotgun once at Cardona, striking him in the abdomen, Weaver said.

“I was in fear for my safety at that point,” Weaver testified.

However, two people watching the incident from about 35 feet away said Cardona emerged from his car with his hands behind his back and never grabbed the officer’s gun or made a threatening gesture.

“He had nothing in his hands; he still had his hands behind his back, and the next thing I know she shot him,” James Soprito testified.

6 Feet Away

Debbie Meecham testified that Cardona was about six feet from Weaver when he was shot by Moseley. Meecham said that Cardona did not have a gun and never reached for the officer’s weapon.

Meecham and Soprito testified that after Cardona was shot, he fell to the ground face down, and Weaver knelt on his back and handcuffed him.

“He was shot, he went down to the ground and Weaver jumped and kneed him in the kidney area,” Soprito testified.

Both Weaver and the two eyewitnesses testified that Cardona did not have a gun during the incident.

Officers later found a shotgun in the trunk of Cardona’s car, according to testimony.

Cardona has filed a $10-million civil lawsuit alleging that he was “carelessly and intentionally assaulted and battered” by Moseley and Weaver. The officers are named as defendants in the suit along with the city.

The preliminary hearing, which began Tuesday, is scheduled to continue today in San Fernando Municipal Court.