Cases Closed in 2 LAPD Shootings : Law enforcement: Following investigations, prosecutors will not seek charges against two officers.

County prosecutors said Monday they will not seek criminal charges against two Los Angeles Police Department detectives involved in separate shooting incidents in the San Fernando Valley.

Detective Paul Stewart of the West Valley Division did not break the law when he accidentally fired his pistol last July while trying to take four purse-snatching suspects into custody, prosecutors concluded.

Stewart was driving an unmarked police car when he heard a radio call describing four men traveling in a blue Chevrolet who had snatched the purse of an elderly woman. Stewart spotted a car that matched the suspects’ Chevrolet and followed the car as it pulled into a Burger King parking lot at Eton Avenue and Sherman Way.

The detective drew his 9-millimeter pistol and ordered the four men to stay in the car, but one of them jumped out and ran. The pistol discharged when Stewart repositioned it.

The bullet struck but did not injure Onesimo Martinez, who was sitting inside his truck parked more than block away.

In a letter to the police commission last month, Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph D. Shidler determined the shooting was accidental and that no crime was committed.

In a separate case, Shidler said his office determined that Detective John Edwards, a homicide investigator assigned to the Van Nuys Division, used justifiable force when he fired a round that pierced the earlobe of a fleeing suspect.

Oscar Tejeda, who was being sought for questioning in a murder case, drove a stolen car in May of last year into a motorcycle officer during a pursuit.

During a subsequent foot pursuit, Edwards fired four rounds from his 9-millimeter pistol at Tejeda, one of which pierced Tejeda’s ear.

Police later discovered Tejeda hiding under a parked car at a nearby apartment building. He was found guilty last August of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, felony hit and run, and grand-theft auto and was sentenced to five years and four months in state prison.

It is routine procedure for the district attorney’s office to investigate all officer-involved shootings. Conclusions drawn from the investigations are used by prosecutors to determine whether to file criminal charges against officers.