OXNARD : Officer Is Cleared in Man’s Shooting

The Ventura County district attorney’s office has cleared an Oxnard police officer in the November shooting of a 60-year-old farm worker, but declined to press charges against the victim for pointing a gun at the officer.

A language barrier and a blinding flashlight led Umbertino Ayala to draw his handgun on Officer Kenneth Dellinger out of fear or in self-defense, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jim Ellison concluded in a 31-page investigative report released Friday.

“There is insufficient evidence to prove that Umbertino Ayala committed any crime when he pointed and attempted to shoot his gun at Officer Dellinger,” Ellison wrote. “Officer Dellinger, in reacting to the perceived threat presented by Umbertino Ayala when he pointed his weapon . . . responded in a reasonable and necessary fashion in his own self-defense.”

Dellinger and four other officers responded to a 9:45 p.m. call reporting a man with a gun at Ayala’s 119 Featherstone St. home. Ayala’s 13-year-old daughter had summoned police after her father allegedly drew a handgun on a tenant.

Dellinger confronted an intoxicated Ayala urinating in the yard and identified himself as a police officer, the report said. The officer shot Ayala in the chest, arm and leg when Ayala allegedly pulled a gun and pointed it at Dellinger, according to the report.

Ellison said Ayala could be excused for reaching for his gun because he probably did not realize Dellinger was a police officer. Dellinger was shining a flashlight at Ayala and yelling in English, which Ayala does not speak well.

The Oxnard Police Department cleared Dellinger of any wrongdoing in its internal investigation last month.

Ayala, now recuperating at home, filed a $450,000 claim against the city last month in advance of a lawsuit claiming he posed no threat to Dellinger and that the department violated his civil rights.