ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : A Shooting That Needs an Investigation

Many questions surround the shooting death of a homeless man by a Santa Ana police officer this month. According to witnesses, Roberto Duarte, 58, was unarmed when he was shot in a row of bushes outside a doughnut shop in the midafternoon of May 4.

Duarte, a heroin and cocaine addict who freely administered fatherly advice and was known in the area as “Papa,” was only 5-feet-6 and weighed barely 100 pounds. He was a familiar face in Santa Ana’s downtown area, where he had lived for 15 years after taking to the streets in the wake of a divorce. Given his slightness and that he was well known, how threatening could he have been to the two officers who confronted him?

The case has been turned over to the district attorney’s office for investigation, which is the proper way to handle the inquiry at this point. Although police aren’t saying anything about the case, witnesses said at the time of the shooting that one of the officers involved told them Duarte had tried to take his pistol away from him.

The witnesses said Duarte might have been taking drugs and might have reacted upon being startled by the officers, who apparently first observed him from inside the doughnut shop. But witnesses said they also thought the officers may have panicked. The public needs to know what happened.

The incident is unfortunate because Santa Ana, which unfairly bears the brunt of the homeless problem for the rest of Orange County, seems to be making improved efforts to handle the homeless in a more humane way. This hasn’t come about voluntarily, however. The city has been challenged in the courts repeatedly for its confrontational approach to the problem. It has emphasized law enforcement without a companion strategy to provide proper assistance to the homeless.

As a result, the city has paid out nearly $460,000 to settle civil-rights and other lawsuits brought over homeless “sweeps” and other enforcement actions in the Civic Center, where most of the homeless live. That’s money that would have been spent far better on social services aimed at getting people off the streets.

Although the Duarte shooting occurred about a mile from the Civic Center, it points up the need once again for the city to improve its policy on handling the homeless.

A thorough investigation of the shooting is in order, with the results made public as soon as possible.