Officer Who Shot Driver Arrested on Felony Counts : Law enforcement: Long Beach patrolman is taken into custody. He claims gun accidentally discharged during dispute with Santa Ana driver.

A Long Beach police officer was arrested on two felony charges Tuesday stemming from a traffic dispute in which he shot a driver who had swerved in front of him at a Fountain Valley intersection.

A spokesman for the Orange County district attorney said Officer Alan B. Ice, 45, was taken into custody without incident at his Fountain Valley home, only a short distance from the intersection where he wounded Neil Cramer of Santa Ana on Sept. 28.

Ice, a 21-year patrol officer who was off duty at the time of the shooting, has said that his gun discharged by accident.

On Monday, Long Beach police suspended him without pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation, according to Paul Chastain, president of the Long Beach Police Officers Assn.

And on Tuesday, Orange County prosecutors filed two charges that accused Ice of assault with a firearm and discharging a firearm at an occupied motor vehicle in a way that inflicted great bodily injury. If convicted, Ice faces a maximum 10 years in prison.

Union president Chastain said he spoke to Ice on Monday and advised the officer to retain an attorney. Chastain said the association will represent Ice in the department investigation but will not represent him in the criminal case because it was an off-duty shooting.

The association stands firmly behind Ice, Chastain said, because, “from my perspective . . . it’s still an accident and the evidence will come out during the trial.”

Ice was being held at Orange County Jail on $25,000 bail. He is expected to be arraigned today before Municipal Judge Michael Beecher in Westminster.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Guy N. Ormes declined to comment on the specifics of the case but said prosecutors decided to file the assault charges Tuesday after reviewing Fountain Valley Police Department reports, a ballistics report and interviews conducted Monday.

Although the attorney for Cramer had called for attempted murder charges against Ice, Ormes said there is no indication that the officer intended to shoot.

“We (looked) at the evidence that came in over the past eight or so days . . . and we believe that there’s insufficient evidence to support the (more serious) filing,” Ormes said.

The shooting occurred about noon that Saturday at the intersection of Ward Street and Warner Avenue, according to police and witness accounts. Cramer, 36, was driving with his finance and 11-year-old daughter and was making a right turn onto Ward when he swerved in front of Ice to avoid a fallen bicyclist.

Ice allegedly pulled alongside Cramer and the two began a heated argument.

Although Ice has declined to comment, he told police union officials that he grabbed his gun when he thought Cramer was reaching for something that he thought might be a weapon. Ice was trying to activate the safety switch, he said, when the gun discharged accidentally.

A bullet entered Cramer’s shoulder, collapsing a lung and lodging near his heart.

Cramer was released from Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center on Friday and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

But his attorney, Dennis Minna, said that upon hearing the news of Ice’s arrest, Cramer “merely asked, ‘What will happen next?’ ”

“He didn’t take the arrest one way or another,” Minna said, adding that Cramer still plans to sue Ice and the Long Beach Police Department and will be able to produce witnesses to show that it was Ice who provoked the confrontation.

Minna said he could not comment in detail on the charges because he said he has yet to see prosecutors’ reports. However, “based on what we’re seeing developed, the fact that my client was shot and the guy was pointing the gun. . . . I’m not surprised that these types of charges are being brought.”

The Long Beach Police internal investigation is expected to take about 30 days, union leader Chastain said. Long Beach police officials said last week they have no plans to review Ice’s on-the-job performance.

According to a Long Beach Press-Telegram report in 1981, Ice was the target of 15 misconduct complaints filed against the Police Department between 1975 and 1980. At that time, it was the most of any officer on the force.

While scores of law enforcement officers--both on- and off-duty--have been involved in local shootings in recent years, Orange County prosecutors have filed criminal charges in only one other incident. That case--also stemming from a traffic dispute involving an officer who worked outside the county--is scheduled to go to trial later this month in Orange County Superior Court.

The officer in that case, an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who allegedly chased down and shot a motorist in Seal Beach last year, was charged with assault and unlawful use of a firearm.

“There aren’t many cases that we have filed against police officers in this county,” prosecutor Ormes said. “But, I wouldn’t label (the filing of charges against officers) as being unusual.”