SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) — A police officer under investigation for sexual misconduct with a teenage minor was shot and killed while on duty by fellow officers Saturday as they tried to arrest him on California's central coast, authorities said.
The officer was manning a DUI checkpoint when the shooting occurred shortly after 1 a.m. He was declared dead after emergency surgery at Marian Medical Center, Santa Maria police Chief Danny Macagni said in a statement.
The officer, a four-year Santa Maria department veteran, had just learned of the internal investigation of an alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, and it became necessary to arrest him immediately, Macagni said.
"We had no choice," Macagni said in video of an afternoon news conference posted by KCOY-TV. He said investigators had evidence "that demanded that we go out and take this officer off the street immediately."
Supervising officers were sent to make a felony arrest, but he struggled with them when they arrived, first putting up a physical fight, then firing his gun but hitting no one, Macagni said.
"He chose to resist, he drew his weapon, a fight ensued, he fired his weapon," the chief said.
Several officers came to help the police making the arrest, and one of them shot the suspected officer in the chest once, Macagni said.
Detectives had begun investigating the alleged relationship on Thursday night, and minutes before the shooting had confirmed that an "inappropriate" and "very explicit" relationship had been going on, Macagni said.
He said he could not give details because of the sensitivity of the investigation, but "there was some witness intimidation involved" and the arrest couldn't wait for a more proper time or place.
"The information that we had in hand demanded that we not let him leave that scene, get in a car, drive somewhere, it would put the public at risk," Macagni said at the news conference. "We just did not know what was going to happen, we did not expect him to react the way that he did."
Macagni said police had expressed condolences to the officer's family.
The officer who fired the fatal shot, an eight-year department veteran, has been placed on administrative leave, and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department was investigating the shooting, Macagni said.
The name of the officer killed has not been released because some family members were still being notified, and the name of the officer who fired the shot was withheld while the incident was under investigation, police said.
Santa Maria is a city of some 100,000 people about 60 miles northwest of Santa Barbara and 160 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
<한글기사>
미국판 ＇부당거래＇..경찰끼리 총격 사망
미국에서 성범죄를 저지른 경찰관이 체 포하러온 동료 경찰관에게 총을 쏘며 저항하다 사살됐다.
29일 (현지시간) 오전 1시께 미국 캘리포니아주 산타마리아 경찰서 소속 경찰관 이 음주운전 단속을 하던 중 감찰반원이 동행을 요구하자 권총을 꺼내 쏘았고 동료 경찰관이 응사해 현장에서 사망했다.
경찰은 이 경찰관이 17세짜리 미성년자와 성관계를 가진 사실이 드러나 긴급 체포에 나섰던 것이라고 설명했다.
감찰반이 현장에 나타나자 이 경찰관은 격렬하게 저항해 몸싸움이 벌어졌고 주변에 있던 경찰관들이 몰려들자 권총을 꺼내 발사했다.
다행히 총알은 아무도 맞히지 못했지만 동료 경찰관 한명이 가슴을 겨냥해 총을 쏴 사살했다.
대니 매카그니 경찰서장은 "어쩔 수 없었다. 그가 저항했고 총을 꺼내 발사했기에 다른 방법이 없었다"고 말했다.
경찰은 사살된 경찰관과 응사한 경찰관 이름은 공개하지 않기로 했다.
