Officers in Seal Beach’s first fatal police shooting in 20 years cleared by D.A.’s office

Two Seal Beach police officers who fatally shot an armed 47-year-old Irvine man outside the home of a woman who had filed a restraining order against him have been cleared following an investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors recently released the findings from a Nov. 29 report that determined the actions of Cpl. Bruno Balderrama and Officer Arion Knight — who on the night of Jan. 16, 2023 shot Michael Bernard Emch, Jr. 24 times after he refused to comply with commands and pointed a firearm at one of them — were reasonable and justifiable.

The incident began with a phone call to 911, placed at 9:36 p.m. by a woman living in a condominium complex on the 100 block of Old Ranch Road. The caller reported someone was trying to illegally enter her residence.

Seal Beach police officers recovered a metal weapon from a man fatally shot during a police shooting on Jan. 16, 2023

(File Photo)

“There’s somebody banging on my door,” an unidentified woman told a 911 dispatcher in a recording released by the Seal Beach Police Department following the incident. “Oh, my god — he’s kicking my door in.”

Only after hearing the suspect arguing outside with police did the unnamed woman learn it was Emch who had been at the property, according to the report. Friends since childhood, the two began dating in March 2022, but broke up four months later.

The woman told police Emch had a history of drug addiction, including methamphetamine, but had been sober when they’d started the relationship.

Following a July 2022 domestic violence incident, the woman was granted a restraining order that prohibited Emch from contacting her or coming within 100 feet of her home, according to police. The couple hadn’t spoken for three months at the time of the incident last January.

Emch, whom police found peering over the brick wall of the woman’s patio, refused to raise his hands upon command by police and was later seen concealing his hand inside his front jacket pocket.

Both officers were outfitted with body-worn cameras that captured the night’s events. After making repeated commands, Balderrama deployed his Taser on Emch shortly after 9:42 p.m., which caused the suspect to fall back onto the patio floor, the report indicated.

Seconds later, when Emch withdrew a Glock 22, 40-caliber handgun from his waistband and pointed it at Balderrama, Knight took action.

“Believing his partner was about to be shot in the head, he pointed his gun at Emch and fired,” the report stated, indicating Knight fired until his Sig Sauer P320 handgun was empty. “In total, Officer Knight fired 21 rounds.”

Balderrama, who had tased Emch a second time, also drew his department-issued Staccato P handgun, firing nine more rounds at the suspect, until he saw Emch’s hand release the firearm. As the three men waited for paramedics to arrive, Emch reportedly told the officers, who continued to hold him at gunpoint, “Finish me off.”

Orange County Fire Authority paramedics arrived at the scene minutes later and found Emch unresponsive. He was transported to the UC Irvine Medical Center and went into respiratory arrest in the ambulance, according to the report.

Although staff at the hospital performed CPR on Emch for several minutes after his arrival, the Irvine resident was pronounced dead at 10:32 p.m. A toxicological examination conducted post mortem found the presence of drugs and alcohol, including methamphetamine, according to the report.

Crime scene investigators retrieved Emch’s firearm, registered under his father’s name, along with two folding knives and a pointed metal object located inside a utility pouch.

Investigators from the district’s attorney’s office determined the Seal Beach officers attempted to get Emch to comply through reasonable, nonlethal means before using their firearms and generally acted in self-defense.

“Corporal Balderrama and Officer Knight were justified in believing that Emch posed a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to themselves and others,” investigators wrote in their report. “The evidence supports the conclusion that [they] exercised reasonable judgment when they decided it was necessary to use deadly force against Emch.”

A Seal Beach Police Department spokeswoman told the Daily Pilot in March the incident was the first police shooting to have occurred in the city in more than 20 years.