Slain Man Identified After Beating Officers With Their Baton
Updated 1:25 PM PST, Mon, Jan 26, 2009
WEST COVINA, Calif. -- A man fatally shot by two West Covina police officers, after taking a baton away from one and hitting both with it, was identified Wednesday.
Omar Francisco Garcia, 24, died at the scene of the Monday afternoon shooting, said Ed Winter of the coroner's office.
West Covina police went to the 2300 block of South Azusa Avenue about 5:30 p.m. Monday on a report of "a person looking into cars in the Target parking lot and "acting suspiciously," said Deputy Derrick Thompson of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau.
Arriving officers stopped the suspect behind the store, and he began fighting with them, Thompson said.
During the scuffle, the suspect took a baton from the belt of one of the officers and began using it to hit both officers, Thompson said.
Fearing for their lives, the officers fatally shot the man, Thompson said.
One officer was treated at a hospital for a broken wrist, and the other officer was treated at the scene for minor injuries, Thompson said.
First Published: Nov 19, 2008 11:14 AM PST
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