Police Want Officer to Be Prosecuted in Shooting of Motorist

Police recommended Wednesday that Orange County prosecutors bring criminal assault charges against an off-duty Long Beach police officer who shot a motorist during a heated traffic dispute here over the weekend.

Citing unspecified “discrepancies” in veteran Long Beach Patrol Officer Alan B. Ice’s account of the Saturday shooting, Fountain Valley Police Chief Elven Miali said in an interview that “we believe there is evidence that this matter was perpetrated by Mr. Ice, that Mr. Ice shot the person, and it looks like it was assault with a deadly weapon.”

The assault charge, a felony, carries a maximum four-year prison term. Fountain Valley police gave their recommendation Wednesday to the Orange County district attorney’s office, Miali said. Prosecutors had not decided late Wednesday whether to pursue charges against Ice, 45, of Fountain Valley.

Although scores of police officers--both on and off duty--have been involved in Orange County shootings in recent years, prosecutors here have filed criminal charges in only one case.

In a case similar to this one, off-duty Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Gregory Cook allegedly shot a man in a traffic dispute last year in Seal Beach. Cook is set to go on trial later this month in Orange County on charges of assault and unlawful use of a firearm.

“In Orange County, this type of incident has been very rare,” Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Maurice L. Evans said Wednesday.

Ice has maintained that he shot 36-year-old Neil Cramer of Santa Ana accidentally--apparently while trying to activate the safety latch on his personal handgun, according to Long Beach police union officials who have interviewed Ice.

But Cramer’s attorney, Dennis Minna of Newport Beach, said he plans to sue Ice and the Long Beach Police Department and will produce several witnesses to show that the officer provoked the noontime Saturday incident, calling Cramer a derogatory name after Cramer allegedly cut in front of Ice when Cramer swerved to avoid a fallen bicyclist in the roadway.

Cramer remained hospitalized Wednesday at the Fountain Valley Regional Medical Center with a single bullet lodged in the left side of his chest, about two inches from his heart, his doctor said. But his condition appeared to be improving and he may be discharged from the hospital by the weekend.

A self-employed carpenter and cabinetmaker from Santa Ana, Cramer plans to make his first public statement about the case from the hospital today, said Minna. Deluged with media requests from around the country, Cramer finds himself at the center of a case that has raised charges by the victim’s attorney that Ice received special treatment because he is a police officer.

Authorities acknowledged Wednesday that their refusal to name Ice as the suspect in the attack for three days or to take him into custody initially after the shooting has caused some perception problems. But they defended these decisions.

“I know there are many citizens who are concerned about our handling of this case because it’s a police officer, and is there a double standard, but I can assure them there is not,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Guy Ormes, who is handling the case. “We are looking at this case with the same care we look at all cases, and the fact that he’s a police officer doesn’t enter in.”

Ormes said Ice’s “longtime commitment to the community” as a police officer and his cooperation with authorities after the shooting made him a low risk to flee the area.

Ice could not be reached for comment Wednesday, and an Orange County defense attorney said to have been contacted about the case declined to discuss it.

Times staff writer Roxana Kopetman contributed to this story.