Deft Police Handiwork : Law enforcement: On the day before his retirement, a Santa Ana police officer made a felony arrest at finger point. ‘I felt better that I did something on my last day,’ the 14-year veteran said.

Freddy Moreno took many suspects into custody during his years in law enforcement, but not until his last day on the job at the Santa Ana Police Department did he ever make a felony arrest using his right hand and index finger to simulate a pistol.

Even Tuesday, as he talked about the Dec. 29 arrest in Santa Ana, Moreno, 38, a 14-year veteran with the Police Department, was still not sure why the suspect obeyed his commands when he had no badge or pistol. Because of his early disability retirement, Moreno had already turned in his badge, and he figured he did not need his revolver on his last day.

Police at the station, including Moreno’s former longtime partner, Bill Chaney, still talk about the arrest. “Oh, you mean the felony arrest at finger point,” Chaney replied when asked about the incident.

“I was surprised the suspect surrendered,” Chaney said. “Freddy got his point across. I guess the suspect figured he had a gun somewhere.”

The story really begins on March 21, 1985, when Moreno, working undercover narcotics, was serving a search warrant at a house in a middle-class neighborhood in Santa Ana. A man inside the house opened fire. When the gun battle was over, Moreno was wounded and the suspect was dead.

Moreno had been the “point man” at the door. He was hit once in the chest and once in the knee. Luckily, he was wearing a protective vest which deflected the bullet around his upper body and into his back pocket. The slug was later found in his wallet where it had melted his credit cards and driver’s license.

However, the bullet that ripped through Moreno’s left knee would eventually force him into retirement on Dec. 29.

“Freddy was kind of down and depressed because it was his last day working,” Chaney, now a robbery investigator, recalled. “I had a couple of things to do outside the office, and I asked him to go along. I wanted to get him out of the office.”

Riding in a police undercover car that afternoon, Moreno and Chaney heard details of a stolen car pursuit on the police radio. The chase got closer and closer to the two officers who were near McFadden Avenue and Raitt Street. When the suspect finally abandoned the stolen car, he was within a few blocks of Moreno and Chaney.

The two officers pulled over and got out to listen. They heard dogs barking in a nearby housing tract. They spotted the suspect jumping over fences and running through yards. Chaney went back to the car to call in the information to the police dispatcher. Meanwhile, Moreno walked toward the suspect, who was in his late 20s, about six feet tall and about 160 pounds.

A flood control ditch separated Moreno and the suspect.

“I told him to freeze, that I was a police officer,” Moreno said. “The only thing I have is my finger. I am pointing my finger at this guy and he puts his hands up.”

After taking a quick look at Moreno, the suspect ducked back behind a fence.

Moreno, pointing his finger toward the fence, warned the man again.

“Hey, the next time you come out I am going to blow you away. I am going to shoot you,” Moreno said. “He jumped back over the fence and I motioned with my finger to lay down on the ground face first, palms up. I didn’t think he would surrender.”

Officers chasing the suspect on foot were surprised to see him lying on the ground with his arms stretched out. They later booked him on suspicion of auto theft.

Residents who had gathered to watch the chase and arrest chided Moreno as he walked back to the police car. One of them extended his index finger and blew on it as if he were clearing the smoke from the barrel of a pistol.

Another bystander joked, “What kind of load do you carry in that finger?”