Police Shooting Was Justified, D.A. Finds

City police officers were justified in using deadly force during a violent confrontation with former pro football player Demetrius Dubose, Dist. Atty. Paul Pfingst concluded Monday.

The July 24 incident, in which Dubose, 28, was shot 12 times while resisting arrest, has sparked protest rallies, a civil rights lawsuit and demands from the city’s African American community for an investigation into whether police officers are more likely to use force when a suspect is black.

In an unprecedented effort at full disclosure, Pfingst ordered the 368-page investigation, including sworn statements by witnesses and officers Timothy Keating and Robert Wills, posted on the county government’s Web site. Posted at 9 a.m., the site had received 700 hits by noon.

“This won’t convince people who don’t want to be convinced,” Pfingst said. “But I think it’s going to be very hard for someone to say there’s been a cover-up when they can dial up the case and get all the witness statements on the Internet.”

Pfingst’s move came despite concern by some police officers that it would set a dangerous precedent that could hamper future shooting investigations by making witnesses reluctant to come forth for fear their names and comments would become quickly public.

In addition, Mayor Susan Golding announced that a phone hotline has been established so residents can react to the Dubose decision and relay any concerns about police conduct.

Even before the decision was released, Brian Watkins, attorney for Dubose’s family, had predicted that Pfingst would exonerate the officers and charged that police were trying to “dig up dirt” on the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer by quizzing other NFL players about him.

Police Chief David Bejarano, facing his first major controversy since becoming chief six months ago, said he agrees with Pfingst’s conclusion that the shooting was justified. Still, Bejarano said he plans private meetings Tuesday with African American community leaders and then a community meeting Wednesday night.

In recent weeks, both Pfingst and Bejarano held emotional meetings in the city’s black neighborhoods to explain the review process.

Police confronted Dubose, who was 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighed 240 pounds, after responding to a burglary call in an apartment complex in the Mission Beach neighborhood. Dubose had fallen asleep in an apartment next to the one where he had been staying.

Groggy but combative, Dubose took away the police officers’ nunchaku martial-arts weapons and engaged the officers in a running fight as they attempted unsuccessfully to subdue the former Notre Dame All-American with pepper spray, according to six witnesses cited in the district attorney’s report.

“This guy was big. This guy was real big,” said witness Henry Parra, 42, a San Francisco police lieutenant who was vacationing in San Diego. “And the officers weren’t small either, but . . . they were definitely losing. . . . It looked like the guy was coming forward to them.”

Two other witnesses saw things differently but each one changed his story and gave conflicting versions, according to the district attorney’s report.

“Given the size and physical strength of Mr. Dubose, as evidenced by the struggle, the nunchakus in his hands posed a genuine risk of serious injury to the officers,” the report concluded. “ . . . The evidence establishes that, however tragic, the shooting was legally justified and not unlawful.”

Tests showed that Dubose had cocaine, alcohol and the drug “ecstasy” in his system--although Watkins has insisted the amounts were too small to produce violent behavior. The report noted that Dubose had had three other encounters with police in the past year, including violently resisting arrest in South Bend, Ind., and Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

In the 110-year history of the San Diego Police Department, only one officer has been charged for shooting someone while on duty. He was acquitted.