cannabisnews.com: Boy's Death Ruled Accidental 





Boy's Death Ruled Accidental 
Posted by FoM on September 18, 2000 at 20:30:01 PT
By Daryl Farnsworth, Bee Staff Writer
Source: Modesto Bee
 Modesto police said Saturday that 11-year-old Alberto Sepulveda was lying face down in his bedroom, complying with police orders, when he was fatally shot Wednesday morning by a SWAT team member. The police investigation's final finding was that the shooting by officer David Hawn was accidental.  The report now goes to three other concurrent investigations being conducted by the department's Internal Affairs division, the Modesto city attorney and the district attorney. The district attorney will decide if any criminal charges will be filed. 
 Capt. Ron Sale outlined the department's findings and details of the shooting for news media. He was acting police chief this weekend for Chief Roy Wasden, who was out of the state to help move his family to Modesto.  Other Key Elements in the Police Findings:  * The boy was shot within 30 seconds of the Special Weapons And Tactics team's entry into the Sepulveda home.  * Hawn, an 18-year SWAT team veteran, told other officers at the scene right after the shooting that his finger was not on the trigger.  * Police said federal agents had told them there were no children in the home.  "We wanted to explain everything the Police Department has been doing since the shooting occurred," Sale said. "We don't want to hold back anything. The shooting was a tragic accident, and everyone at the Modesto Police Department is deeply moved for the victim's family," he said.  "On behalf of all of us at the Modesto Police Department and the city of Modesto, we again wish to extend our heartfelt sympathy to the members of Alberto's family. I and every member of the community share their grief," Sale said.  Juan Alvarez, president of the Hispanic Leadership Council, met with Modesto police officials and Assistant City Manager Paul Baxter on Saturday to hear the details of the SWAT raid and subsequent shooting.  "I'm 100 percent behind the police and the police chief," Alvarez said. "The point is that we (the community) have to get rid of these drugs. Drugs is why the police were there. It was a tragic accident."  Alvarez said he was assured that a drug raid by police at a home in a wealthy neighborhood would be handled the same way as anywhere else in Modesto.  Sale said the boy died from a single shotgun wound to the back. He was lying face down on the floor of a bedroom when he was shot. The shotgun slug entered the boy's body behind the right shoulder and it ended up almost exiting the body near the boy's left nipple. The boy died instantly.  "I'm sure that one question on everybody's mind is how did the gun go off?" Sale said. "At this point in time, every indication we have is this was a tragic and accidental discharge, however, we don't know what caused it. We may never know exactly what caused the weapon to discharge."  Weapon Will Be Tested:  Hawn's shotgun has been examined by a Police Department armorer, and it was determined that the trigger mechanism had not been altered from the original factory design, Sale said.  He said that the shotgun will be sent to the Department of Justice on Monday for further testing.  Hawn has been placed on paid leave, which is the usual procedure when an officer is involved in a shooting. He is expected to return to duty in about a week.  Sale said the fatal shooting is the first time a Modesto police SWAT officer's weapon has accidentally discharged during a raid.  "We do know that officer Hawn was shocked and stunned and his spontaneous statement (after the shotgun discharged) was that he didn't have his finger on the trigger," Sale said.  Raid on Home Detailed:  Sale gave the following account of the SWAT raid:  Federal drug agents early Wednesday had gone to the boy's home at 2524 McAdoo Ave. to serve a search warrant and arrest the boy's father, 33-year-old Moises Sepulveda.  Modesto SWAT officers, speaking in English and Spanish, demanded entry into the Sepulveda home at 6:21 a.m. Twenty seconds after demanding entry, the officers saw movement inside the house near a front window. Ten seconds later, the SWAT team members forced their way inside the front door. Hawn was the second SWAT officer to enter the home.  Moments after entering the house, SWAT officers tossed a smoke bomb into the living room, and it exploded near a couch.  The officers then found the person they were looking for, Moises Sepulveda. He was standing near the front door, and he did not resist arrest. He was ordered to lie on the floor, and he was handcuffed.  The officers then found Alberto in a bedroom and ordered him to the floor, and he complied. At the same time, officers found his 8-year-old sister, Xitlalic, in a front bedroom.  The officers also encountered Alberto's brother, Moises Jr., 14, in the hallway and found the children's mother in a back bedroom. She was brought to the living room where her husband was being detained, and she also was handcuffed.  Struggle With Brother:  At the time the shotgun discharged, Hawn was standing near three other SWAT officers in a narrow hallway. Two of the officers were struggling with Moises Jr., who was refusing to cooperate with the officers' commands to lie down on the floor, police said.  "(Moises Jr.) kept trying to get up, and the SWAT team leader put his foot on the juvenile's back to keep him on the floor," Sale said. "The juvenile was told to stay down on the floor several times.  "While the 14-year-old boy was being handcuffed, immediately behind him in this extremely confined space, officer Hawn was standing at the threshold of bedroom number two (where Alberto was located) and his weapon accidentally discharged," Sale said. "It was like Grand Central Station in the hallway. Everyone was bumping into each other while they were struggling with the 14-year-old and then the gunshot was heard," he said.  Sale said the bedroom Alberto was in was dark, and Hawn could only see a young male in the darkness. He said Hawn ordered the boy to get face down on the floor and Alberto immediately complied.  According to Sale, Hawn took up a position at the bedroom entrance in order to secure that room. For the safety of the officers, Hawn had trained his shotgun on the boy on the floor, illuminating him with the shotgun's light.  Officers said that Alberto appeared to be a large boy, about 200 pounds, and officers thought he was about 15 or 16 years old.  "The next thing that was heard (after the shot) was officer Hawn's voice in great distress utter a profanity and say something to the effect that his finger was not on the trigger," Sale said. "(Hawn) expressed shock that the weapon had discharged. Officer Hawn then illuminated the bedroom with a flashlight mounted on his weapon, and he discovered that Alberto had been shot."  Hawn called for firefighters and paramedics, who were standing by down the street.  Officers then moved the other members of the Sepulveda family out of the home.  Sale reported Hawn's shotgun was immediately secured by other officers, and Hawn was taken to the Police Department to be interviewed.  When paramedics arrived at the Sepulveda home, they checked the boy and pronounced him dead.  Investigation Led To Raid:  Sale also outlined the federal investigation that led to the raid. He said that since January 1999, federal narcotics agents have focused on the drug trafficking organization of Manuel Ruelas. During the investigation, federal drug agents reportedly made several buys of methamphetamine through Ruelas and his associates. The drug buys yielded 3 1/2 pounds of methamphetamine.  Agents also seized three large scale methamphetamine labs, which were also part of the Ruelas organization, he said.  As a result of the investigation, drug agents obtained a federal affidavit for the arrest of Moises Sepulveda Sr. In addition, 14 search warrants were issued for locations in Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties, including the Sepulveda residence on McAdoo Avenue in the Highway Village area of Modesto.  Moises Sepulveda Sr. was released Friday on $20,000 bond. He is charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.  Federal agents also alerted SWAT officers conducting the drug raids that members of the Ruelas organization were to be considered armed and dangerous and it was likely that weapons would be at the 14 targeted locations.  Police asked about the possible presence of children in the Sepulveda home and were told that federal agents had conducted surveillance and knew of no children at the address, Sale said.  Sale said the SWAT officers were assigned to enter and secure the 14 locations. Then the SWAT officers were no longer needed and federal drug agents would begin their investigations and conduct their searches for suspects, weapons and drugs. NewsHawk: RainbowSource: Modesto Bee (CA) Published: Monday, September 18, 2000Author: Daryl FarnsworthCopyright: 2000 The Modesto Bee Contact: letters modbee.com Website: http://www.modbee.com/ Feedback: http://www.modbee.com/help/letters.html Related Articles & Web Site:Slain Boy's Father Released http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7058.shtmlSearch for Answers Follows Boy's Death http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7046.shtmlSWAT Officer Kills Boy, 11 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7033.shtml Drug War Deaths: Federal Government Responsiblehttp://apll.freeyellow.com/drug_war_list.html
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Comment #5 posted by Dee on May 31, 2001 at 23:29:44 PT:
Mr. Alvarez only speaks for himself!
Upon doing personal research on this tragic incident in my home town, I was appauled to find Mr. Alvarez' quote. In addition, in talking with my peers of the Mexican community, I have found that when Mr. Juan Alvarez made these statements, he claimed to speak on the behalf of the "Hispanic Community". I, myself, being of Mexican ethnicity can say that Mr. Alvarez speaks for him self. Most of the students of Modesto Junior College ("Hispanic" and all other ethnicities)can agree that the MPD used excessive force and acted in an extremley unproffesional way. Many members whom I have spoke with about Mr. Alvarez' comments can agree that he might as well shot the child him self by saying those terrible comments. I am ashamed to consider Mr. Alvarez a "Leader" in our community and of Modesto Junior College. I can only pray that people who choose to blind them selves of these injustices will wake up and smell the gun powder.
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Comment #4 posted by freedom fighter on September 19, 2000 at 17:00:28 PT
Alberto was not the first
How many more children??Oh really, one is just too much.
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Comment #3 posted by Schmeff on September 19, 2000 at 13:15:52 PT:
Just for the sake of argument...
...let's assume that I, like many Americans, believe "The point is that we (the community) have to get rid of these drugs.", like Juan Alvarez, president of the Hispanic Leadership Council is quoted above. Thirty years of taxpayer-funded propaganda has managed, through the use of fear, misinformation, lies and bullying, to convince me that drugs are the scourge of our society. Billions upon billions of money has been spent so that I know 'instinctively' that when drugs are discussed, we are NOT talking about coffee, cigarettes or booze. I feel morally superior in my heart that I am doing the right thing to support any and all measures enacted to rid the world of drugs.Call me callous. But I can't help but feel that the deaths of a thousand drug-addicted junkies (I've had lots of help demonizing drug users, you know) is preferable to the death of one innocent eleven year-old boy. Those junkies deserve what they get, at least they made their own choices. Alberto made no choice for the gestapo to blast out his heart.No doubt Officer Hawn will return to work in a week or so, sad for the terrible accident, but secure in the knowledge that by killing children, we can send the message that drugs are bad. Drugs can kill you.Those who are interested in examining how the media is complicit in spreading the propaganda should note how the news story above is subtly slanted. Lest we start to feel uncomfortable about the image of a flak-jaketed anonymous ninja holding a weapon on an 11 year old boy who is being forced to lie facedown on the floor, in the dark, inhaling smoke and scared out of his wits, we are given the completely unnecessary information that "Alberto appeared to be a large boy, about 200 pounds, and officers thought he was about 15 or 16 years old." This tries to justify the "held at gunpoint" scenario, implying that this oversized meth-crazed juvenile was at risk of jumping up and putting a serious case of whup-ass on poor Officer Hawn.Pathetic.
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Comment #2 posted by Rainbow on September 19, 2000 at 06:43:17 PT
It's the coverup Doc
I agree, there is only one reason (well maybe 3) to have a gun and that is to kill. Of course it is used a peacemaker and as a phallic symbol for freudian psychologists.Hawn will be back on the force within a week, heck I thought he was grieving and really upset? No it is all in a day's work.I am wondering he kept saying (and they believe) that his finger was not on the trigger. Okay how does the firing pin reach the backend of a casing. It travels at the release of a trigger. It seems that they are trying to blame the brother somehow, but then they had their knee in his back and hands handcuffed.No this is a coverup pure and simple and we do not want to ruin the police officers life now do we. Even the spanish representative is blaming the father and his supposed activity dealing in drugs. What ever happen to Friday and a simple knock on the grarage door after work? A couple people walk up and put you under arrest.A typical example of police abuse but the Modesto people are probably too afraid to say anything. The police shoot then cover up.Sick in MinnesotaPlease I ask for sanity and peace.Rainbow
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on September 19, 2000 at 03:45:11 PT:
It's no accident---
Let's turn things around a bit. When someone is killed in the course of the commission of a crime, the triggerman and accomplices are charged with felony murder, regardless of their intent. In this scenario, an unjustifiably aggressive policy, coupled with ignorance for public safety ends up shooting an innocent boy in the back. If that is not murder, then I am very confused as to the disctinction. The public should be sick of the whitewash techniques that always seem to accompany the "accidents" perpetrated by the War on Drugs.
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