San Diego police officer charged with exhibiting gun in alleged road rage incident
A San Diego police officer accused of pulling a gun on a woman during an alleged off-duty road rage incident in Clairemont in March has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor count of exhibiting a gun in a threatening manner.
William Carter Torres, 30, denied the charge during an arraignment Aug. 18. He is due back in court on Nov. 10.
Torres, who has been with the San Diego Police Department for four years, was arrested and suspended after the March 4 incident. He was assigned to Central Division, which covers downtown San Diego, Barrio Logan and surrounding areas.
He now is assigned to administrative duties, according to his attorney.
On the day of the incident, police said a woman reported that another driver had displayed a gun in a threatening manner. The woman gave police the driver’s license plate information, leading officers to Carter Torres.
Police said they determined Carter Torres had been driving his personal vehicle but provided few other details about the incident.
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The City Attorney’s Office, which filed the criminal charge against Carter Torres in late July, declined to provide information about the alleged crime.
An attorney representing Carter Torres said it was the other driver who engaged in “serious” road rage. Attorney Gerald Smith said his client had just gotten measured for a work uniform and was driving home when a vehicle “came up” from behind. The driver then started honking and driving erratically, Smith said, adding that the driver could have gone around Carter Torres but did not.
Smith said the off-duty officer believed he was being followed and was concerned. The attorney said some San Diego police officers who have worked on the front lines of protests sparked by George Floyd’s 2020 murder in Minneapolis have been followed home.
Smith said Carter Torres was followed home on one occasion. He added that officers reported the incidents to supervisors.
Carter Torres was one of three officers who fatally shot a 42-year-old man, Raul Rivera, in southern San Diego’s Nestor neighborhood in May 2018.
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