Leniency Alleged After Shooting by Officer

The lawyer for a Santa Ana man who was shot by an off-duty Long Beach police officer during a traffic dispute charged Tuesday that the officer provoked the confrontation but has been treated leniently by authorities.

Dennis Minna, the attorney for shooting victim Neil Cramer, 36, questioned why the officer has not yet been arrested and why Fountain Valley police refused to publicly disclose his name for three days.

“Why is this man receiving preferential treatment?” Minna demanded. “Most anyone else would have been placed in custody.”

But as the investigation into the Saturday afternoon shooting continued, the head of the Long Beach police association countered with a different explanation, saying that the veteran patrol officer thought--mistakenly--that the other motorist might be armed.

The union official also maintained that the officer’s gun apparently went off accidentally.

Police initially refused to name the officer but, after repeated press inquiries, identified him Tuesday as Alan B. Ice, 45, a 21-year veteran of the Long Beach force. Ice could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Ice is a native of Long Beach, an Army veteran and a major in the reserves, and he lived through 1985 in a quiet Fountain Valley neighborhood with his now-estranged wife and their five children, the wife said. She declined to say where he now lives.

“He shot somebody? That’s unbelievable,” the wife, Sung Ja Ice, said when told of the incident by a reporter. “When somebody does the wrong thing, then he gets upset. . . . But he’s usually very gentle--with old people, with children.”

Fountain Valley Police Chief Elven Miali confirmed that no charges have been filed against Ice, who allegedly threatened Cramer and then shot him once in the shoulder and chest. Police conducted an initial investigation before asking that the Orange County district attorney’s office take over the probe into possible criminal charges. Deputy Dist. Atty. John Conley declined to comment beyond saying that the investigation could take up to 60 days.

Long Beach police administrators have placed Ice on desk duty pending the outcome of the inquiry.

Cramer, 36, was still hospitalized in Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, a hospital official said.

He was suffering from a collapsed lung and a shoulder wound, but his family requested that his condition not be disclosed. Minna, his Newport Beach attorney, said he was in “great pain” but recovering.

“He is alert. He is sitting up,” Minna said. He added that Cramer was still in a state of shock over the incident and upset that Ice has yet to face any charges. “He’s still fearful for his life.”

The shooting occurred just after noon on Saturday, at the intersection of Warner Avenue and Ward Street in Fountain Valley, police said.

Minna said that Cramer--driving with his 29-year-old fiancee, Elaine Lara, and his 11-year-old daughter--was making a right turn onto Ward Street in his camper truck when a boy apparently fell off a bicycle. That forced Cramer to swerve into the left lane.

Ice, who had been driving behind Cramer, then allegedly pulled alongside the camper and a heated argument began.

What happened next is a matter of dispute.

Long Beach Police Officer Assn. president Paul Chastain said that Ice was interviewed by union officials Tuesday and recounted that he had traded harsh words with Cramer as they sat side by side in their vehicles.

Ice did not identify himself as a police officer at any point during the argument, officials said.

At one point, according to the account from Chastain, Cramer disappeared into the back of his camper. When Cramer reappeared, Ice asked him: “What do you have in your hand?”

Cramer replied: “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Ice then pulled a pistol from a nearby knapsack, Chastain said. “He thought he (Cramer) might be arming himself. His hands were not in plain sight.”

When the light changed, Ice tried to pull away first because the argument “was escalating,” Chastain related. However, his pistol accidentally discharged, striking Cramer in the left shoulder. The bullet then traveled through his lung and lodged in his chest.

But Minna said it was Cramer--not Ice--who began to pull away first from the scene of the argument after the officer provoked the confrontation.

Minna said that he was planning to file a civil suit against Ice and perhaps the city of Long Beach. He said his client was wrongfully shot and challenged the claim that the gun went off accidentally.

“This man (Ice) is trying to scramble,” Minna said, adding that his client’s hands were on the steering wheel when he was shot. No weapon was found in Cramer’s truck.

“This (defense) is completely unadulterated bs,” Minna said. “When Cramer looked to the left, the gun was already raised. It’s curious how he (Ice) is reaching for something in his own mind.”

The wounded Cramer drove erratically to the Fountain Valley hospital with his distraught fiancee and daughter still in the camper.

Ice followed close behind, Minna contended, causing the three in the truck to believe that they were being chased and might be shot at again.

They did not learn until later that Ice, who ran apologetically into the hospital after the shooting, was a police officer, the lawyer said, adding:

“It was pandemonium . . . they were horrified.”

Minna said Cramer and Lara were also upset that Ice was not identified by authorities until Tuesday afternoon, giving the appearance that the officer was “receiving preferential treatment.”

“I think not only is it a matter of concern for the family not knowing who he was,” Minna said, “but it’s a greater concern to the public at large.”

Prosecutor Conley said that while it may appear that Ice received preferential treatment, this case is different from other shootings because the officer involved is legally allowed to carry a pistol.

“It was kind of a judgment call,” Conley explained. “You clearly make an arrest when you think someone is guilty,” Conley said. “But there’s a gray zone of, ‘What do we really have here?’ ”

Ice’s wife said she was not aware of him having ever discharged his gun before Saturday, adding that she can’t imagine what might have happened that day.

The officer was supposed to have spent the day with another daughter, this one 12, but the wife said she needed the girl to stay home and help with chores instead, so she told Ice not to pick her up. “He was unhappy with that--he said he wanted to see her,” Sung Ja Ice said.

Asked whether her husband had a bad temper, she replied: “Anybody gets upset. . . . There’s no one that’s not going to have a temper.”

Times Staff Writer Roxanne Kopetman contributed to this report.