Self-Defense Ruled in Shooting by Police : Oxnard: Nicholas Partee, killed after a high-speed chase, may have wanted to die at the hands of officers, D.A.’s report says.

Oxnard police were acting in self-defense when they shot an Oxnard man 19 times last year after he pointed a gun at them following a high-speed chase, the district attorney’s office concluded in a report released Monday.

Nicholas Partee, 35, who was killed in Camarillo last October by police officers after violating a domestic restraining order, had exhibited suicidal tendencies and may have wanted to die at the hands of police, according to the report by Deputy Dist. Atty. James Ellison.

“It will never be positively determined why Mr. Partee did what he did on the night he was killed, but one piece of information might help explain his actions,” Ellison wrote. “Nicholas Partee’s brother-in-law, Monty Menefee, told detectives that he and Mr. Partee had a discussion approximately a year before Mr. Partee’s death, during which the two of them discussed suicide. Menefee told Partee that if he ever decided to kill himself, he would just pull a gun on police and force them to shoot him.”

Oxnard police officials refused to comment on the shooting due to pending litigation. Partee’s family last month filed a $25-million federal lawsuit against Oxnard and the officers involved, charging that he was illegally gunned down.

Partee, a construction worker, had left a residential drug rehabilitation program on the afternoon of Oct. 1, 1993, the report said.

A check of Partee’s parents’ house found that on that same day he broke into the home, took a .22-caliber pistol, and left several suicide notes addressed to his family and friends, Ellison wrote.

At 10 that night, Partee went to the Oxnard home of his estranged wife, Lisa Partee, and asked for the keys to their car, the report said. Lisa Partee had obtained a restraining order prohibiting her husband from coming within 100 feet of the house after he had threatened her with violence.

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After giving him the keys, Lisa Partee and her roommate called police, afraid that he might return.

Officer Terry Burr spotted Partee as Partee sped out of a convenience store parking lot, and a high-speed chase ensued, reaching speeds of up to 80 m.p.h. on Pleasant Valley Road, the report said.

Burr was joined by Officers Roger Sonsini, Christopher Orsini and James Stallings as the pursuit progressed onto the southbound Ventura Freeway, Ellison wrote.

Partee then exited the freeway at Carmen Drive in Camarillo, and drove southbound on the northbound lane of Ventura Boulevard, spinning out of control as he tried to make a right turn at Oak Street, the report said.

Sonsini tried to end the pursuit by forcing Partee’s car onto the curb with his vehicle and blocking its path. Sonsini ended up about two feet away from Partee’s car. Still seated in the car, Partee reached down inside the car, grabbed a gun, and pointed it at the officer’s head, Ellison wrote.

Orsini struck Partee with a barrage of shots, and Partee slumped over. Moments later, however, Partee started to come up, and officers fired two more shots. Stallings then approached Partee’s car, and when Partee came up again with a gun in his hand, officers fired five more shots, hitting him in the chest and shoulders.

Partee rose a third time, still holding the gun, and Sonsini fired another four shots at him before he finally stopped moving. Partee’s gun had not been fired, the report said.

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An autopsy found that Partee died of multiple gunshot wounds, and 19 bullets were removed from his body, Ellison wrote. Partee had a blood-alcohol level of .09%, the autopsy found.

“The fact that so many rounds (34) were fired by the officers does not change the legal analysis,” Ellison wrote. “The officers stated that Mr. Partee continued to point his gun at them even after being shot, and, as long as he threatened them, they were entitled to use deadly force in their defense.”