S.D. Cop Charged in Gas Station Scuffle

A San Diego police officer was charged Friday with eight criminal counts, including four felony assault charges, the result of a fight six months ago at a Chula Vista service station in which prosecutors allege that the off-duty officer pistol-whipped another customer.

Alonzo Alexander, 28, was charged with three counts of assault with a firearm and a sole charge of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, according to court records. He also was charged with four lesser misdemeanors, two of using a firearm in a fight and two of simple assault, according to the court files.

“These are charges I think are appropriate to the actions that occurred at the gas station,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Eichler said. But defense lawyer Everett Bobbitt said Alexander is innocent of all charges. “My client is going to vigorously fight the charges,” Bobbitt said. “That’s why we have a jury system.”

Convictions on the assault charges could earn Alexander sentences of four or five years on each felony count. The misdemeanor counts could bring six months apiece behind bars.

Pending the outcome of the case, Alexander has been transferred from a patrol shift to desk duty at the Police Department’s Western Division station, department officials said. He has been an officer for two years, police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

Eichler declined to talk at length about prosecutors’ version of the Jan. 29 fight. The court file provided only sketchy details.

According to Bobbitt, Alexander pulled into the gas station, where he and another man jockeyed for a pump. Alexander, who was off duty, went to use another pump but the man yelled at him and approached, Bobbitt said.

Alexander identified himself as a police officer, Bobbitt said. “At that point, he tried to assault my client, tackling him,” Bobbitt said. “My client kicked him and the fight was on.”

At some point, another man got involved in the fight. Court records identify the two men as Jesse Smith and Brian Hession.

“The conduct I’ve heard described is very defensible,” Bobbitt said.