Ice Testifies Gun Went Off Accidentally : Courts: Fired police officer says lurching vehicle made him fire shot that hit motorist during altercation in traffic.

A former Long Beach police officer charged with wounding an unarmed motorist during a traffic dispute testified Thursday that his gun went off accidentally in the midst of the altercation.

Alan B. Ice, 47, of Fountain Valley took the witness stand in his own defense and told a Santa Ana Superior Court jury his gun fired as his Jeep lurched forward. Ice said he does not recall pulling the trigger.

Ice faces felony charges of assault with a firearm and firing into an occupied vehicle in connection with the Sept. 28, 1991, shooting of Santa Ana carpenter Neil Cramer after the two exchanged angry words and obscene gestures on a Fountain Valley street.

“It was an accident,” said Ice, who contended that he grabbed for his weapon only because he believed that Cramer was also armed. Ice said that even though he spent 21 years as a police officer, stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 240 pounds, he feared for his safety at the time of the shooting.

The incident began when Cramer swerved his camper truck out of his lane on Ward Street and into Ice’s lane to avoid a boy who had fallen off his bicycle. Ice beeped his car horn at Cramer and the men began yelling at each other at a traffic light.

Both men claimed that they sought weapons because they feared the other was armed and looking for trouble. Cramer testified Wednesday that he asked his girlfriend to grab a hammer from the back of a camper truck to use for protection during the dispute.

The jury will have to decide whether Ice intentionally shot Cramer, who suffered a punctured lung from a bullet that entered his shoulder. Cramer has recovered from his injuries.

Ice was fired from the Long Beach Police Department after the shooting.

During questioning by prosecutor Clyde Von Der Ahe, Ice said he was slightly angry and irritated--but not enraged--at the time of the shooting. The prosecutor told jurors that the shooting grew out of an angry dispute in which both men continued to challenge each other.

But Ice insisted that he was more afraid of Cramer than angry at the motorist, who had earlier cut him off and then straddled two lanes, preventing Ice from passing.

“I saw actions that made me suspect he might have some kind of weapon, possibly a gun,” Ice said, adding that he became concerned when he saw Cramer grab for something from the back of his camper truck. “I was afraid of the man. I just wanted to get away from him.”

Whether Cramer was armed with the hammer is a key, and disputed, issue in the trial. Ice said he pulled out his gun only after seeing Cramer reach for an object that Ice feared could be a weapon.

Elaine Lara, Cramer’s girlfriend, and Autumn Cramer, his 12-year-old daughter, were in the car with the victim at the time of the shooting. Both have admitted changing their stories about whether Cramer was attempting to arm himself since being interviewed by police at the time of the incident.

Lara has filed a civil suit against Ice seeking damages. Lara testified that Cramer’s hospital bills total $50,000, and that he does not have medical insurance to cover those costs.