Block Defends Deputies in Death of Man With Crutch : Montrose: Mother of 30-year-old says ‘whitewash’ does not surprise her. She says that although he suffered from depression, he was never violent.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block on Wednesday staunchly defended the actions of two of his deputies over the shooting death of a Montrose man who was gunned down after he threatened the deputies with a broken metal crutch.

Deputies Greg J. Gabriel, 38, and Paul P. Dino, 37, shot and killed Aaron Cease on Dec. 18, after he thrust a jagged-edged crutch at the deputies like a bayonet and shouted “Kill me or I’ll kill you,” Block told reporters at his monthly news conference.

The deputies fired on the 30-year-old Cease only after he repeatedly ignored their orders to drop the crutch and continued to jog toward them, said Block, who made his comments before a Sheriff’s Department investigation into the incident was completed.

“There’s no question in my mind as to the justified nature of this particular shooting,” Block said.

Family members have criticized the shooting, saying that Cease suffered from “major depression,” but had never been violent.

“It’s what I expected from them--to whitewash it any way they could,” said Cease’s mother, Doreen Cease, of Block’s comments. “Aaron is described by everybody who knew him as a gentle person. It shouldn’t have happened.”

She said her son, who was under a doctor’s care for depression, needed the crutch because he had a weak ankle. The family has threatened to take legal action.

By contrast, Block portrayed Cease as a man with “a record of violence” who was arrested in August for “viciously” assaulting his brother and who was committed the previous year for psychiatric observation. He also said that Cease had quit taking psychotherapeutic drugs that had been prescribed for him by a doctor.

Toxicology reports show that Cease’s blood alcohol level was .27% at the time of the shooting, more than triple the legal driving limit of .08%, authorities said.

“His mother told our investigators that when he drank he became very violent,” Block said. “Witnesses say that he left his house just about midnight that night carrying a liter bottle of wine, which he either dropped or threw down into the street.”

The incident began when deputies at the Crescenta Valley station received a call that a man was hitting cars and chasing down pedestrians with an unknown object, Block said. A deputy arrived at the 2500 block of Montrose Avenue after midnight and ordered Cease to drop the crutch. He refused, and began to swing it at the deputy.

At that point, the bottom half of the crutch flew off, exposing a jagged edge, Block said. A second deputy arrived and Cease began moving toward both deputies and shouting threats at them.

The deputies retreated about 120 feet, all the while demanding that Cease drop the crutch, Block said. After Cease failed to follow orders, each deputy fired a burst of two rounds, and when Cease continued toward them they fired another two rounds and then fired more shots until he finally dropped.

Block said so far sheriff’s investigators have interviewed 10 independent witnesses who have corroborated the deputies’ account of the shooting. He said he decided to take the highly unusual step and publicly discuss the case out of concern for the deputies.

“I think the emotional well-being of the deputies demands that we do this,” Block said. “They have been vilified in some media reports, literally pointed out as having no concern for human life, and nothing could be further from the truth.”

Block described Gabriel and Dino, both nine-year veterans, as experienced deputies who were recently commended for diffusing an unrelated situation without the use of deadly force. He also defended the deputies’ decisions not to use batons or pepper spray, noting that the deputies’ hands were occupied by their flashlights and guns and that the crutch was longer than a baton.

“They were going backwards and somebody is jogging toward you; if they had fallen, what they envisioned was, this (jagged crutch) would have come right into their faces,” Block said. “He got within six to 10 feet of them before they fired the first shot.”

Block also said that Cease was “not using the crutch because he needed it for walking.”

“I think it’s important to recognize that this individual was not an invalid,” he said.

Block’s statement was in sharp contrast to reports by family members that Cease used the crutch for a weak ankle he had broken earlier this year.

The killing of Cease has come under fire by family members and by the man who called deputies to the scene, all of whom have said it was unnecessary for officers to resort to deadly force to control Cease.

Cease’s mother, Doreen, confirmed this week that her family has retained a Woodland Hills attorney to represent the family in possible legal action.

Family members speculated that Cease was on his way to the 7-Eleven a few blocks from his home when he was shot. Three or four times each week, Cease would go to the store at the corner of Montrose and La Crescenta avenues in Glendale to buy cigarettes, coffee or wine, but only if his mother had phoned store employees and given permission to charge the items on her credit card.

Both the Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office are investigating the shooting, which is standard practice in fatal shootings that involve law enforcement officers.

The deputies were reassigned to desk duty for five days after the shooting, which is also standard procedure. They have since returned to their regular shifts, sheriff’s officials said Wednesday.

“We’re not surprised that the sheriff has exonerated the deputies involved in this shooting,” said David Lynn, a board member for Police Watch, a Los Angeles-based police misconduct and lawyer referral service. “When has there ever been a case that he has found that the deputies were not justified in shooting?”

The American Civil Liberties Union also expressed concern about the incident, and a spokesman said the organization would monitor the investigation.

Lynn said that in the wake of Cease’s death, his organization is again calling for the Sheriff’s Department to establish a citizen review board “with teeth” to investigate alleged cases of officer misconduct.

“This case is just another example of how police cannot police themselves,” Lynn said.