Videotape Doesn’t Show Shooting : Law enforcement: Gates says D.A.’s office reviewing film but he can’t explain why camera was turned away during the crucial moment.

New details in the death of Deputy Darryn LeRoy Robins surfaced Tuesday as investigators continued to look into how the veteran officer was shot in the face by a fellow deputy during an impromptu training exercise Christmas Day.

In an interview, Sheriff Brad Gates said that videotapes taken from cameras in patrol cars that were at the scene have been turned over to the district attorney’s office for its inquiry into the incident.

Gates said the videotapes depict three events leading up to the shooting and deputies driving Robins to the hospital. But for some unexplained reason, the film does not contain footage of the training session that led to the officer’s death, he said.

The sheriff also said Tuesday that four deputies in three patrol cars, including Robins and a rookie patrol deputy, were behind the Lake Forest shopping center where they were going to review car stop tactics for felony suspects.

He declined to release the other officers’ names, citing restrictions in county regulations, and added that he did not know whether the two deputies accompanying Robins and Brian Scanlan saw the shooting.

He said he was limited in what he could say about the ensuing investigation and cautioned that he would not know all the facts until the Orange County district attorney’s office completes its probe in the months ahead.

The district attorney’s office, which is responsible for investigating officer-involved shootings in the county, will determine whether criminal charges should be filed against Scanlan, the deputy who shot Robins.

. “We have asked (district attorney investigators) to move as rapidly as they possibly can,” Gates said. “Once . . . they give us the results so we know what we are talking about, we will start the process of reviewing our policy related to that incident.”

The videotapes turned over to investigators were taken from cameras installed in patrol vehicles under a new sheriff’s program to provide evidence in criminal cases and police misconduct complaints. The fist-sized cameras, which are attached to the rearview mirror, can be turned on manually or automatically when a patrol car’s lights and siren are activated.

Gates said the tapes partially captured a California Highway Patrol arrest that the deputies assisted in earlier in the day. In another sequence, he said, the deputies are conducting field training sessions without any difficulty.

That is followed by other footage showing the officers going to answer a burglary call at Fuddrucker’s restaurant in the Twin Peaks shopping center in Lake Forest. The remaining film depicts deputies driving from the scene of Robins’ shooting to the hospital.

“I am not aware of any footage of the shooting,” Gates said.

One law enforcement source has told the Times that one camera appears to have been rolling during incident but was not aimed properly out the front window of the patrol car. Instead of recording the shooting, the source said, it got the dashboard.

Prosecutors are investigating the possibility that a deputy may have accidentally knocked the camera from its normal angle during the burglary investigation just minutes before the shooting.

Gates said the camera might have been bumped by a shotgun and knocked out of alignment when one deputy got out of his car to answer the Fuddrucker’s call. The video camera was later straightened out, he said, but he added that he did not know all the details or whose patrol car was involved.

Investigators have said they are focusing on the possibility that Robins, playing the part of a suspect in the car, surprised Scanlan during the training session by reaching for a small gun he had hidden in the car’s sun visor.

Former deputies have told The Times that many deputies carry small backup pistols in case they are disarmed by suspects.

Gates said Sheriff’s Department policy forbids on-duty deputies from carrying firearms other than their service pistols and shotguns.

But the sheriff said he did not know whether Robins was carrying any such weapon the day he was shot or whether any firearm that violated department policy was used during the training session.