Probe of Shooting Is Needed

The FBI’s decision to investigate a Huntington Beach police officer’s fatal shooting of an 18-year-old is welcome. There are questions about the incident that need to be answered.

On May 5, in the Oakview section of Huntington Beach, Officer Mark Wersching shot and killed Antonio Saldivar. The initial police announcement said Wersching and his partner were on patrol at 1:30 a.m. when they saw Saldivar, a farm worker, looking into a parked car. He ran, they chased him, and he pointed a rifle at the officers, police said. When he did, Wersching shot him.

The rifle turned out to be a toy, though in the post-midnight darkness it obviously is difficult to distinguish between a toy rifle and a real one.

But nearly six weeks after the shooting, a different explanation of the events was presented.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating the incident, announced that it had concluded that Saldivar was not the man being chased by Wersching and his partner. Instead, in a strange twist, the man who said he was the target of police that night, Brigido Mendez, gave his explanation of events to Wersching after the officer arrested him two weeks later.

Sheriff’s detectives concluded that Huntington Beach police had seen a man peering in a car and ran through nearby backyards and over fences in an unsuccessful attempt to catch him. On their way back to their police car, they spotted Saldivar crouching with what appeared to be a rifle and fired at him.

Days after the shooting, about 60 residents of Oakview, one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, marched to police headquarters in protest. Many said they doubted the police explanation of the shooting and accused police of treating residents with a heavy hand. Tensions rose so much that the Orange County Human Relations Commission formed a task force to smooth relations between police and residents.

Five years ago, a Huntington Beach police officer shot an unarmed 77-year-old he mistook for a burglar in a small office in an industrial park. No charges were filed against the officer, who later left the force. The city agreed to pay $500,000 to the dead man’s children to settle a lawsuit.

The FBI recently said it would conduct its own investigation to see if Saldivar’s rights were violated. There always have been people quick to question police motives and actions. However, there is confusion over what happened in this case, and there is also the community concern. Both suggest the need for the separate inquiries by the sheriff and the FBI.

A thorough investigation and full disclosure of the findings will benefit not just Saldivar’s family and the Police Department, but also the entire Oakview neighborhood and the city of Huntington Beach.