Officer in Traffic Dispute Accused of Pulling a Gun

Sheriff’s deputies are investigating reports that an off-duty Los Angeles policewoman threatened a motorist last week by pointing a gun at her, authorities said Wednesday.

The officer, Sandra L. Ruiz, who is assigned to a special narcotics task force, acknowledged in an interview that she had been involved in a shouting match with the woman as they left the Orange Freeway in Diamond Bar. But she denied displaying a weapon.

Sheriff’s deputies said they have not yet discussed the case with prosecutors. Exhibiting a gun on a highway--except in self-defense--can be considered a felony punishable by as much as three years in state prison and a $3,000 fine.

The investigation was triggered by a police report filed by the motorist, Claudette Stirewalt, 19, a warehouse receptionist who moved to Hacienda Heights last month from North Branch, Minn. She said the episode occurred June 7 when she tried to change lanes in stop-and-go traffic on an off-ramp.

Stirewalt said the other driver, in a 1989 Mercedes-Benz, kept accelerating so she could not change lanes. Stirewalt said, she did not realize that the driver was a police officer. After an exchange of insults through their open windows, Stirewalt said she was finally able to cut in.

Once on surface streets, the driver of the Mercedes quickly pulled up on her left side, Stirewalt said. She looked over and saw the black barrel of a gun pointed directly at her.

“She had her arm extended and the gun was aimed right at me,” said Stirewalt, who had been on a lunch break. “She had her finger on the trigger and everything.”

Stirewalt said she slammed on the brakes and wrote down the license number of the car, which authorities say is registered to Ruiz, who is assigned to a Los Angeles Police Department squad called GRATS, for Gang-Related Active Trafficker Suppression.

In an interview this week, Ruiz, 24, acknowledged that she had been behind the wheel and that she had become angry with Stirewalt, whom she accused of trying to run her off the road. “I lowered my window and told her she better not hit my car,” said Ruiz.

Ruiz declined to comment on what happened next, but she denied drawing her weapon. “It’s completely out of my character,” Ruiz said. “Maybe she’s been watching too much television.”

After the incident, Stirewalt said she drove to a store in Rowland Heights and called sheriff’s deputies. The officer who responded, Deputy Ron Williams, said she seemed reluctant to press charges, so he decided not to take a report.

Stirewalt said she had been distraught and felt Williams was discouraging her from pursuing the matter. After talking it over with friends and her boss, she called the Walnut substation again on Tuesday and told deputies she wanted them to investigate.

“I had been warned that I should be real careful out here (in Los Angeles) and not to get in anyone’s way because they might pull a gun on you,” Stirewalt said. “But I thought, ‘Oh, no.’ I couldn’t believe it. In Minnesota, things like that just don’t happen.”