Witness Describes Shooting of Deputy

A passenger in a stolen car testified Monday that she heard nine shots as a sheriff’s deputy approached after a routine traffic stop.

Rebecca Scott said she did not see James Michael Bright fire the shots that hit Deputy Paul E. Kain on June 6, but she watched him pull a handgun out of his waistband before the deputy arrived at the driver’s-side window.

Scott testified at a preliminary hearing for Bright, a 26-year-old San Diego man accused of severely wounding the deputy. Heather Anne McVey, 23, of Lakeside is accused of harboring Bright after the shooting.

After the hearing, Municipal Judge E. Mac Amos Jr. ordered Bright and McVey to stand trial. They will be arraigned Aug. 3 in Superior Court.

Scott gave a tearful account of being a passenger in the car, which was pulled over on Palm Street in Lemon Grove because the taillights were not working. As Kain approached the vehicle, Scott said, she noticed that Bright had a revolver and she told him to put it under the seat.

But Bright gave no response, Scott testified. Under questioning from Deputy Dist. Atty. Glenn McAllister, Scott said she did not remember telling investigators that Bright told her: “If you get out of the car, I’ll kill you.”

Scott also testified that she tried to get out of the car, but was unable to escape because Bright was already speeding off.

Kain was hit three times, twice in his abdomen and once in the hip, causing injuries that have left him with a “strip of paralysis” down the back of his leg, McAllister said. The prosecutor said Bright also fired one shot that destroyed Kain’s radio and another that went through the window of a nearby house.

After being hit, Kain managed to fire three shots at the escaping car.

According to other testimony, McVey arranged accommodations for Bright after the shooting, as well as a new car, a haircut and a shave.

Sheriff’s Detective Robert Fullmer testified that investigators impounded McVey’s abandoned car from a supermarket parking lot and found that her license plates had been covered with a Colorado plate registered to her ex-husband.

“Over the period of several days, she’s an active participant,” McAllister said, adding that McVey even told some of her friends that Bright had “shot a cop.”

Bright, who would face life in prison if convicted of attempted murder with premeditation, is being held in lieu of $1 million bail. McVey, charged with being an accessory after the fact, remains in custody in lieu of $10,000 bail.