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California, USA Elio Carrion Shooting Case Updates Mariela Carrion and her mother at family press conference about the shooting of Elio Carrion. Photo: AP Feb. 5, 2006

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Added March 9, 2006

California, USA

Deputy Pleads Not Guilty In Videotaped Shooting

Airman Elio Carrion

San Bernadino - A sheriff's deputy pleaded not guilty Wednesday to attempted voluntary manslaughter in the videotaped shooting of an unarmed serviceman after a high-speed car chase.

Deputy Ivory J. Webb, who fired three shots into Senior Airman Elio Carrion on Jan. 29, surrendered voluntarily and was arraigned at the San Bernardino County Superior Court.

Webb, 45, is the first peace officer in San Bernardino County history to be charged as the result of an on-duty shooting. He could be sentenced to as much as 18½ years in prison if convicted.

- KABC-TV and Associated Press

March 9, 2006

Questions linger in Airman shooting video

Issue # 1 – The shooting of Senior Airman Elio Carrion

Mariela Carrion said during a television interview about a week after the Jan. 29 shooting that her husband, Air Force Senior Airman Elio Carrion, was kicked, handcuffed and dragged after he was shot three times by San Bernardino County Sheriff's Deputy Ivory John Webb.

But the cameraman, Jose Luis Valdes, said in an interview at his home Monday that he saw the airman kicked in the face before the shooting and dragged afterward. It was the kicking that prompted him to grab his camera, Valdes said.

San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod, during a news conference Feb. 10, said there was nothing to substantiate either claim.

Issue # 2 – Alleged retaliation against cameraman, Jose Luis Valdes

There also is confusion and uncertainty in Valdes' interaction with law enforcement after the shooting.

A day after the incident, his attorney, Luis Carrillo, said Valdes was pulled over by police three times within hours of turning over the tape to the sheriff's department. Valdes said he surreptitiously made a copy of the tape while a dozen deputies watched the video in his living room.

Valdes said deputies did stop him when he drove in and out of the shooting scene, which is near his home, but he was not actually pulled over outside of the police tape. The third time he was stopped, a deputy searched his car after he was caught trying to sneak a television reporter into his house by claiming she was his daughter, he said.

The search turned up nothing and the deputy let him go.

"I didn't put the video in my car. I was really scared," Valdes said.

He claims police also have sat outside taking pictures of his home since the shooting.

But those incidents caused less frustration than the day he went to renew his green card at a federal immigration office in Pomona. A background check at the office revealed a Florida arrest warrant had been issued against Valdes by Miami-Dade County authorities.

Valdes flew to Florida to face the aggravated assault charge. At Los Angeles International Airport, he was confronted by two FBI agents who interviewed him about what happened Jan. 29, he said.

And upon his return, he says his wife and daughter were pulled over by police. He does not know if the stop was related to the shooting or if it was coincidence. He says his arrest has already cost him roughly $10,000 between travel expenses and lost business because he had to close his El Monte auto dealership while he was away.

Among the numerous elements of the case being reviewed by prosecutors is the chase that led to the shooting. And it is another element for which few details have been released.

- Daily Bulletin

Ontario, California

Feb. 27, 2006

Added Feb. 14, 2006

California, USA

Airman Elio Carrion's Shooting Case Goes to District Attorney

The San Bernadino sheriff's department sent results of an investigation into the videotaped shooting of an unarmed Air Force security officer to prosecutors Friday, without a recommendation on whether to file charges against the deputy involved.

Sheriff Gary Penrod said the videotape "arouses a lot of suspicion" about what occurred, but he also said the tape is fuzzy and has gaps, so the complete chain of events is unclear.

- Associated Press
Feb. 10, 2006

Added Feb. 09, 2006

Feb. 9, 2006

Added Feb. 09, 2006

"Thus far, the sheriff's office has given no indication that they are treating this case with the seriousness that it merits in terms of arresting the deputy."

- Elio Carrion's lawyer Luis Carrillo

The Today Show

Feb. 5, 2006

Added Feb. 05, 2006

LibertadLatina Note:

It has been our experience that persons who bring the illegal or corrupt acts of institutions and public officials to light are often retaliated against. 

That has happened to me on too many occasions, for simply speaking up for innocent victims.

In the Carrion case,  cameraman Jose Luis Valdes was first followed around, and his car was stopped and fully searched by local sheriffs on 3 separate occasions,  immediately after he sold his film to Los Angeles TV station KTLA.  Now he has been arrested and will be sent to Florida.

While the Florida charge may be valid, what a coincidence!

When I advocated for the rights of a 15-year-old Latino youth in 2002, after his brutal beating by local police, he too was followed and later arrested, intimidated and then railroaded, directly after I filed a formal complaint of police brutality on his behalf.  Despite an FBI investigation that began 1 and 1/2 years after the assault, the case was unjustly buried.

In another case, When I assisted in documenting police complaints for our local NAACP office, the group's director was followed around for months by local police to harass her.

The complaint files were also stolen after a break-in at that NAACP office.

Only a U.S Justice Department consent decree stopped that unlawful behavior.

The objective of  harassment is to make a valid complaint less viable by destroying the credibility of the targeted witness.  In this case, video tape cannot be said to lie.

It is up to the Latino community to use vigilance to assure that equal justice under the law is made available both to Airman Elio Carrion, and to video cameraman Jose Luis Valdes.

We support the brave women and men of law enforce-ment 100%.  But the law applies to everyone. Unlawful acts, even by sworn officers, must be prosecuted.

The whole world is watching!

- Chuck Goolsby

Feb. 5, 2006

See Also:

In regard to the shooting of Airman Elio Carrion...

"It's a criminal act," said Roger Clark, a former Los Angeles County sheriff's lieutenant who routinely testifies in court as an expert in police tactics.