Slaying of Man Holding Shovel Justified by D.A. : Probe: Two sheriff’s deputies are cleared in Christmas Day shooting of 60-year-old man who they say was threatening them with a shovel. But a spokesman for the Mexican consulate argues that the slightly built Tecate resident posed little threat.

Two San Diego County sheriff’s deputies were justified in fatally shooting a 5-foot-5, 133-pound, 60-year-old man last Christmas Day near Dulzura because he threatened them with a home-made shovel, Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller said in a report released Wednesday.

The six-page report was the result of an eight-month probe of the shooting by district attorney investigators. Ezequiel Tinajero Vazquez, a resident of Tecate, Mexico, was shot six times by Deputies William Smith and Gary Vanderford while walking on California 94.

According to Smith and Vanderford, the only witnesses to the shooting, Tinajero ignored numerous commands to drop the shovel. The deputies said they retreated five times from Tinajero, whom they said continued to come toward them while threatening them with the shovel. Both Miller and Sheriff Jim Roache, who released the report at a press conference, called the slightly built Tinajero “deranged” and “violent.”

“In this incident, the deputies were confronted with a seemingly deranged and violent man who was armed with a shovel. . . . Both deputies said they believed one or both of them were about to be grievously injured,” Miller’s report said.

The incident stirred considerable controversy at the time, and critics accused the deputies of using excessive force. They asked why two deputies were unable to subdue Tinajero without killing him.

Attorney Joy Tiz, who represents Tinajero’s family in a lawsuit against the county, said she was not surprised by Miller’s decision.

“What else is new here?” she asked. “This is pretty normal and standard for the district attorney. It’s routine. When was the last time he charged an officer in one of these incidents?”

In recent years, Miller has cleared numerous police officers involved in shootings with civilians. In the past, the district attorney has refused to charge officers who killed suspects who threatened them with “weapons” such as a wooden garden stake and cement trowel.

District attorney’s office spokeswoman Linda Miller said the last time an officer was prosecuted in a shooting incident was in 1982, when Escondido Police Officer David DeLange was charged with involuntary manslaughter for shooting a female hostage with a shotgun. DeLange was later acquitted.

Prosecutors said the law makes it very difficult to charge officers in a shooting unless there is clear malice by the officer. Even when officers are charged for using excessive force, they are often acquitted by juries, prosecutors added.

As he has in other officer-involved shootings, Miller included mild criticism of the officers’ actions in the report, while at the same time absolving them of any wrongdoing.

“A peace officer’s selection of one legally permissible alternative in handling a dangerous person does not necessarily preclude the availability of other reasonable alternatives, some of which may have been more appropriate,” Miller said in the report. “ . . . It is difficult to believe this incident could not have been handled by using an alternative short of deadly force.”

Miguel Escobar, spokesman for the Mexican consulate in San Diego, said he agreed with Miller that the incident could have been handled without killing Tinajero.

“We’re talking about a 60-year-old man who was slight of build. How could it be that two deputies were not able to handle him or overpower him without killing him? This is not right,” Escobar said.

He declined further comment.

However, Roache said there was no alternative available to the deputies but to shoot Tinajero. Speaking at the press conference, Roache said under the circumstances it was unrealistic to expect the two deputies to subdue Tinajero with anything but deadly force.

“No one wanted to see this occur,” Roache said. “It would be truly sad to say that anyone was satisfied with this.”

He said the deputies “used considerable restraint over and over” as Tinajero allegedly advanced toward them with the menacing shovel, which was actually a manzanita branch placed into a spade.

Perhaps Tinajero’s death could have been prevented if the deputies had been supplied with “less than lethal alternatives” such as dogs, Tasers or MACE, Roache said. However, the financially strapped county has been unable to provide his department with the additional equipment, he added.

According to Roache, Tinajero was waving the shovel at cars as he walked along California 94. He described the highway as heavily traveled, even on Christmas Day. Roache said Smith and Vanderford were concerned that Tinajero would hit the windshield of an approaching car or force a driver to swerve and cause an accident.

Although the sheriff said the highway was well-traveled on the day of the shooting, investigators were unable to locate any witnesses, except for the two deputies.

The incident began about 11:30 a.m. when Smith, who was en route to another call, saw Tinajero walking down the road, talking to himself and holding the shovel with both hands.

Relatives said Tinajero had crossed the U.S-Mexico border illegally to do some gardening for his sister, who lives in Potrero.

Smith told investigators that he made an attempt to contact Tinajero, but the man appeared angry and ignored his command to stop and talk. Miller’s report said Smith decided to handle the earlier call. When he finished with that, Smith turned around and attempted to contact Tinajero, the report said.

However, he first stopped a van and ticketed the driver for speeding. He then continued driving until he spotted Tinajero again, walking alongside California 94. Smith said Tinajero was “on the highway, swinging a shovel.”

He called for backup and waited until Vanderford arrived before making another move. But before Vanderford’s arrival, Smith drove to his nearby home to check on his family, because he had “seen Tinajero in that area,” the report said.

Upon returning from his house, Smith found Tinajero sitting at the same spot by the road. Miller’s report said Tinajero began walking east on the highway.

Eventually, both deputies caught up with Tinajero and both were unable to persuade him to put the shovel down, the report said. According to Roache, the deputies attempted to communicate with Tinajero in Spanish and English, but to no avail.

Roache said he did not know which of the deputies addressed Tinajero in Spanish, or if the deputy was fluent or conversant in Spanish.