Sheriff’s Department Releases Videotapes on Deputy’s Shooting

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday released copies of the videotaped footage surrounding the Christmas Day shooting death of Deputy Darryn Leroy Robins, allowing the public to get its first direct look at some of the now-controversial events of that day.

Authorities had allowed reporters to view the video footage last week when they opened up their investigative files, but they had refused to make public copies of the tapes for reproduction. Every sheriff’s patrol car is equipped with a dash-mounted camera that can be activated either manually or automatically when emergency lights are turned on.

On Tuesday, however, the Sheriff’s Department provided copies of the footage after The Times and other news organizations cited provisions of the California Public Records Act.

The tapes do not show the pivotal minutes during which authorities say Deputy Brian P. Scanlan accidentally shot and killed Robins, 30, during an impromptu training exercise behind a Lake Forest movie theater around 2 p.m. on Dec. 25.

Assistant Dist. Atty. John Conley said that the camera in Scanlan’s patrol car was knocked out of focus a few minutes beforehand and that it was then turned off during the shooting itself, although he said investigators are not sure why or by whom.

The tapes do show, however, several key scenes surrounding the shooting.

On one videotape, shot from the camera in Scanlan’s patrol car about 20 minutes before the shooting, Scanlan and Robins, along with a rookie deputy, are seen running through a mock car-stop exercise in a parking lot outside a Lake Forest Kmart. Scanlan uses his finger as a gun to apprehend Robins, playing the suspect in the scenario.

During the shooting itself a few minutes later, Robins and Scanlan were running through a similar car-stop exercise at a second mall lot a few blocks away, but Scanlan--in apparent violation of department policy--used his loaded service weapon. None of this is captured on film.

The video footage then picks up again with two tapes that show the short race to Laguna Hills’ Saddleback Memorial Medical Center with the wounded Robins, his stiffened legs jutting out the open back door of Scanlan’s car. The first tape was shot through the windshield of Scanlan’s patrol car, the second from a patrol car that was trailing him.

In the tapes made public, authorities edited out a scene of Robins being taken into the hospital emergency room, saying they did not want to upset Robins’ family. Scanlan can be heard on one tape at the hospital shouting: “You’re my buddy, man! C’mon, Darryn!”

The Sheriff’s Department did not provide a copy of Scanlan’s videotaped interview with authorities just a few hours after the shooting, which was shown to reporters at last week’s briefing. But Lt. Dan Martini said copies of that tape will probably be released later.

Authorities said they have taken the unusual step of making public the tapes and virtually all other evidence in the case to help dispel lingering suspicions about the controversial shooting.

A grand jury decided earlier this month not to indict Scanlan for involuntary manslaughter.