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Santa Maria police officers shot each other

December 13, 2011

Danny Macagni

The only bullets fired in Thursday’s fusillade killing a 24-year-old Santa Maria man and wounding two officers came from police weapons.

A local newspaper initially reported that the fatally wounded man, Samyr Ceballos, started a shootout.

“Never once did I say (Ceballos) fired first,” Santa Maria Police Chief Danny Macagni told CalCoastNews today. “I made it a very distinct point not to say that. I try to keep the facts on point as much as possible.”

Macagni said he was “at the scene.” But he also said that “at no time did I say to anyone that these officers had been fired on. It wasn’t that he (Ceballos) didn’t try… he had his finger on the trigger.”

The two injured officers, one hit in the hand, the other in a leg, were treated and released from local hospitals. None of the officers involved have been identified.

Ceballos was driving a black SUV and had parked in front of a West Agnes Avenue home when he was approached by officers attempting to serve a drug-related search and arrest warrant.

Macagni said Ceballos’ “intent was clear. We knew going in that we were going to have a confrontation with this guy. We knew he wasn’t going to cooperate.”  One officer used a Tazer on Ceballos, who then reportedly emerged from the vehicle holding a handgun.

Subsequent investigation verified that the handgun police allege Ceballos had in his possession had not been fired.

Immediately after the shooting incident, the four officers involved were placed on paid administrative leave pending completion of an investigation by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney.

In post-event comments, Macagni described Ceballos as “a documented West Park gang member well known to the criminal justice system.”


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New article in the Santa Maria Sun about how the SMPD are getting threats for their killing of Mr. Ceballos. What is interesting is, again, the story changes.


Quoting the SM Sun (12/20/2011),


———-

According to the official SMPD press release regarding the incident, the department’s narcotics and gang units, along with SWAT team members, were attempting to serve search and arrest warrants in the 300 block of West Agnes Street in relation to an ongoing narcotics investigation on Dec. 8.

At approximately 8 a.m., officers tried to pull over Ceballos, the target of their investigation, in his sports utility vehicle. According to the department, Ceballos stopped his car but “failed to surrender to [officers] and produced a weapon.”

According to the release, during the attempt to disarm Ceballos, shots were fired and Ceballos was pronounced dead at the scene. Two officers sustained minor gunshot wounds and were transported to a nearby hospital.

Since the incident, Macagni told local media that a preliminary investigation revealed that Ceballos’ handgun was never fired, and that the two injured officers—one shot in the hand, the other the leg—were actually victims of friendly fire……

…Lt. Rico Flores of the Santa Maria Police Department could not comment on the incident because a number of independent investigations are still ongoing….

…Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Drew Sugars said his department is conducting an investigation into the Ceballos incident. The results of investigation will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office.

….All six officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave during the investigation, typical procedure in officer-involved shootings.

———–


My commentary:


According to the official SMPD press release… :


In other words, “this is the SMPD’s latest version of what went down when Mr. Ceballos was killed by 2…no 4…no, now 6…SMPD officers.”


***


At approximately 8 a.m., officers tried to pull over Ceballos, the target of their investigation, in his sports utility vehicle. According to the department, Ceballos stopped his car but “failed to surrender to [officers] and produced a weapon.”


What does “failed to surrender to [officers] mean? Did they ask him to get out of the car or what?


***


“…produced a weapon”:


Notice, the report does not say the weapon was a gun. A weapon could be anything from a pencil to a hat-pin to a nuclear bomb. When did the “weapon” become a “gun”? Before Ceballos was gunned down or afterwards? In other words, to put it more plainly: was the gun planted to justify the killing?


***


…..during the attempt to disarm Ceballos, shots were fired and Ceballos was pronounced dead at the scene.


For the first time we hear that the “fusillade” or “flurry” (as has been described in media articles) occurred while the SMPD was trying to disarm Ceballos. NOTE: No mention of a taser being used in the press release. If you remember, Cindy raised some good questions about how Ceballos was tasered and the general sequence of events from the pulling over of Mr. Ceballos to the dead Mr. Ceballos.


***


,…Macagni told local media that a preliminary investigation revealed that Ceballos’ handgun was never fired:


This raises another question. In Macagni’s last interview reported by the SMSun (/12/2011 (http://tinyurl.com/c8ae9wr), he said he didn’t have ballistics back yet. Well, are they back yet? What do they show? Taxpayers paid for it. What are the danged results? Or was he just blowing smoke?


***


….All six officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave during the investigation, typical procedure in officer-involved shootings:


As reported in the article for this blog (“the four officers involved were placed on paid administrative leave”), AND as reported by the SM Times on 12/12/2011 (http://tinyurl.com/c8ae9wr):

(All four officerswho fired shots in the confrontation have been placed on administrative leave), Chief Macagni said there were only FOUR officers. Where did the other two come from? Why weren’t they initially included in the shooter count? Was that a PR move to try to lessen the reality of SIX trained SMPD shooting a “flurry” of bullets to kill a man who was apparently “armed” but the chief is backing off from saying he was armed with a gun?


Note that this continuing revisionary SMPD tale of the killing of a Hispanic/Latino man is not occuring in a vacuum.


Indeed, it occurs concurrent to the huge expose on the SMPD’s unethical and perjurious use of “ruse” affidavits to append to court orders signed by judges. These “ruse” affidavits, btw, were only used on Hispanic/Latinos (you know, the ethnic group Police Chief Macagni calls “wetbacks”) suspected gang members. (“Walking the Line: Legal Questions Arise in Interrogation Tactics Used on Suspected Gang Members,” http://www.santamariasun.com/cover/7541/walking-the-line/)


No wonder the SMPD is getting death threats. How long do they think they can single out a minority group for abuse, fraudulent and DEADLY tactics, without an uprising occurring?


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Mary Malone,


Addressing your assertive comments once again in chronological order;


The amount of officers at the scene, whether one or ten, matters not to the reason they were there in the first place! Ceballos was UNDER WARRANT FOR ARREST AND HE HAD A WEAPON! The variation of the number of police upon the scene is moot and does not dilute the story whatsoever! (as shown to you below)


No Mary, as much as you want it to be, a “weapon”, in a true sense of the term relative to Ceballos and this dangerous situation at hand, is not a pencil, nor a hat pin, or your other insidious notions. As if a known SM gang-banger that has done time, would use such tools! LOL! At least you bring some comedy to your “assertions” at times!


YOUR QUOTE: “No mention of a taser being used?”


By your mere mention of MANY press releases, and that are different, does this mean that a taser was not used just because the article that you SPECIFICALLY bring forth doesn’t mention it? lol Each “writer” of the story takes a different stance and includes what they want in their editorials!


Regarding your mention of Ceballos ballistics aren’t back yet, and your ever so wanting rhetoric of why they’re not, is really, child like in nature. Question this action only if they are NEVER brought forth, but in the meantime, just be patient with your “blowing smoke” reference, okay? :(


YOUR EMBARRASSING QUOTES: “ ….All six officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave during the investigation, typical procedure in officer-involved shootings:”


^ Where is your reference for there being six officers?


“All four officers who fired shots in the confrontation have been placed on administrative leave”, Chief Macagni said there were only FOUR officers. Where did the other two come from? Why weren’t they initially included in the shooter count?”


Mary, Mary, for the sake of discussion, and without you posting evidence of there actually being six officers, unless I missed it, let’s say there were six officers. Then, did it ever occur to you that six officers were on the scene, but ONLY FOUR WERE INVOLVED IN THE SHOOTING? H-E-L-L-O? Mary, save a modicum of respect, and think it through next time! Facetiously, the only “vacuum” that is present, is the one that you’re in of your own making!


Pertaining to the “alleged” use of “ruse affidavits”, then this is a problem and should be dealt with forthwith in an absolute manner, if in fact, this is true!!! Let’s just forget the fact that Frank Godinez, the person in question to the article you produced, was arrested for a parole violation, is a multiple felon, and of which an audio recording is in existence that police have interpreted as a confession to the murder Michael Christie. Nonetheless, even a person of his criminal past has rights.


YOUR QUOTE: “No wonder the SMPD is getting death threats. How long do they think they can single out a minority group for abuse, fraudulent and DEADLY tactics, without an uprising occurring?”


Being from Los Angeles, yes, death threats are a part of the equation when you go after this type of element. Unfortunately, their “ethnic” group that are in fact gang bangers in SM, ARE OF THE SPANISH FACTION! GET IT?!


For you to uphold a “minority” as being abused in this respect, is totally unwarranted to say the least if said minority is the actual presence of the gangs in Santa Maria to begin with! UNDERSTAND??!! If it walks and talks like a duck, IT’S A DUCK! Don’t forget, NOT all of the “minority” are gang members. You presented a pitiful deduction. :(


YOUR QUOTE: “fraudulent and DEADLY tactics”


This disingenuous statement of yours falls flat upon its face by my refuting your insidious “assertions” above!


Because of a known gang banger being shot, resisting an arrest, holding a “weapon”, your seemingly “frothing at the mouth” of an assumed “uprising” is sickening to say the least!


In closing on yet another one of Mary’s episodes of “assertions prove my argument” scenarios, once again, your “assertions” go severely wanting in your continuing rant upon this story. Your continued action of grasping for the proverbial straws should have your fingernails worn down to a nubbin by now! See a Manicurist ASAP!


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To paraphrase Ted Slanders; What are you saying? The Santa Maria PD conspired to commit murder? Sure, when the incident is reviewed there may well things that have been done better (happens all the time in the WORK environment). The thrust of YOUR argument seems to focus on the legitimization of a society in which gangs play a powerful role, like an industry or political party. Wow. Sorry, but this was a bad guy, confirmed not just suspected, not a guy who didn’t pay some speeding tickets. The tactics used were appropriate. If a fire engine broadsides a car going through an intersection Code 3 they better not have been on their way to get a cat out of a tree. This guy was no cat in tree. He is literally burning down civilization. Best wishes to the injured officers and I hope they’re back on the job ASAP. We, unfortunately, clearly need each and every one them at this time.


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My my isn’t hypocrisy a sin?


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mkaney,


The topic of hypocrisy is a gray area within scripture. But, even if it is a sin, I have the ‘Forgiveness Doctrine!”


“But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.” (Acts 13:37-39)


We can only wonder if Ceballos accepted Jesus before his untimely departure from planet earth. Our God only knows. :)


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TS you aren’t as whacked as I first thought that you were although I know that you are trolling with the religious stuff but if trolling is what toots your horn then that’s fine. I kinda like your posts (some), they’re fun to read. But you are pretty harsh on people. This is a forum that is considered a discussion type of forum. We are not here to to simply state known facts. If the facts aren’t in then this is a perfect forum to speculate and try to piece things together. Didn’t you ever play the game ‘Clue’ when you were a kid. Mary’s opinion is a valid one. This is a strange case, there are some missing pieces. Just the fact that two cops shot each other makes this a bit peculiar and begs one to put things together and to have an opinion and to speculate. If you don’t have an opinion and you know all the facts then tell us what the facts are, if you don’t want to read other people’s opinions then don’t read them. IMO Mary and most of the others here all have valid points on this and who knows we might all be wrong but oh well.


@Everyone else, I’m not sure why you take this guy so serious. He’s deliberately trying to piss you off and he’s winning.


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The officers involved should thank each other and their trainers for being such poor shots.


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That was cold, they were not shooting at each other merely shooting in a panic, in their direction.


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Who can be sure ? Why wouldn’t they lie to protect themselves ?

Why would ‘trained cops’ shoot in a panic ?

They’re supposed to be the calm ones, right ?


A shooting DEATH by cops is either a cluster FFFF, or entirely unanticipated accident..


These cops ARRANGED IT !


MURDER, 1st DEGREE !


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“or entirely unanticipated accident..” Well you have me there my friend, not well planned though, and one thing, here comes the red for me.


Darren Murphy the Sheriff no body but me likes, NEVER SHOT ANY OF HIS FELLOW OFFICERS, he he didn’t even shoot the guy who reached for the cell phone HOLSTER, ( a device able to conceal a 25 caliber, 7 shot pistol), maybe now you people can appreciate a cop who really does hate violence.


Darren had his chance to shoot this guy legally when he reached down, the cops in Santa Maria just plain opened fire! Stupid, they lost respect for the power they held.

Guns don’t kill people, people with guns do.


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I think you’re pretty much off base for the murder word being slung around but, I’ll assume you do that all the time and these folks just ignore you. You said it was “either a cluster FFFF, or entirely unanticipated accident”… Which do you think it was Einstein?


How about both? Both officers violated the simple “cross fire” rule and paid the ultimate price fortunately along with the intended target.


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Actually, Police Chief Macagni’s latest version of the killing of Ceballos is that there are now SIX SMPD officers out on administrative leave.


First he said “four” were out on leave. Where did the other two come from?


What—Did two of them have babies since the shooting?


Can’t Macagni count past the fingers on one hand?


Or is Macagni just trying to gin his story to fit the evidence and witnesses’ accounts of what happened?


Notice we haven’t heard ANYTHING about eye witnesses. The killing occurred in the daytime, in a residential neighborhood. There were probably witnesses.


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Some of the stuff i read that you guys are posting on Tasers is wrong..I have been tasered before..it is not that big of a deal..the jolt lasts for 5 seconds and it turns off.. now TV has led people to believe that it makes people lay on the ground for several mins. this is not the case.. I have seen people get tasered and the moment it is over the person is fighting again..also it depends on the spread of the taser prongs..the closer the spread the less effective the device is..the closer the taser is to the bad guy the closer the prong spread. They can reach about 20-25 feet but can go as far out as 30 ft. the prongs are kinda like a straight fish hook that can be easily ripped out, also the wires can be broken. Tasers are not perfect and dont always work on every person..they are a tool and that is it..they are not a cure all and are not always a good thing to pull out when things are getting dangerous


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Since no two humans are alike, no two humans are likely to experience the same thing when tazed.


You appear to be one of the “lucky” ones who don’t have the normal experience of sensation and recovery time. I use the word “lucky” cynically because it is often after tazing does not debilitate the victim enough to satisfy the police administering it that the police go on to use firearms to shoot the victim.


In addition, tazing is being used in situations where the choke-hold would not have been used–and the taser was supposed to replace the illegal choke-hold.


It is also clear that some police vent their anger at the victim by repeatedly tazing them. This url is to videos of police recklessly abusing tazing. It is supposed to be a tool for the police…not compensation for a small *ick. The videos of repeat tazing are in the que on the right: http://tinyurl.com/829a3c4


Finally, repeatedly tazing a victim is more likely to result in death of the victim: http://tinyurl.com/8yhg9zb


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I am so glad you know more about this than me..you tube and the websites are SO EDUCATIONAL and are ALWAYS CORRECT..the thing I know is that I have be pucnhed in the face by a guy that was being tased whille it was happenening also I have seen another gent get tased ina vehicle and he jumped out and the fight was on for a several minutes..I have aslo seen a guy get tased at least 5 times and he still would not give up..now if this guy had a gun then getting shot is fair game..it is not good when someone dies. Someone always monday morning QBs you. As far as the officers shooting the others..people make mistakes those guy were in a dangerous situation that got ulgy and an accident happened. I am sure they feel bad enough and dont need this bullsh!t. I am sure you and all the other bloggers would have done some special wiz bang move and took the gun holding gang banger into custody with out a shot fired. If you have never been in a situation where there was a guy with a gun and he wanted to kill you then you cant judge.


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Tasers were introduced to supplement the tools available to LEOs, but more importantly, they were supposed to reduce the need for use of “lethal force”, namely, the firearm that the officer is trained not to wound with, not to disable, but only to kill. The use of a firearm is the “last resort” of a police officer, and I’m sure that many would prefer to not ever have to use as they are trained since it will result in the death of a suspect, but the officer is going to do what they have to to protect themselves, and rightfully so. The problem with the use of the taser however is that many many times the taser is employed as a means of an officer of avoiding physical contact with a suspect. It takes proper training and repeated practice for an officer to be able to physically restrain a suspect but if one relies mainly on a taser to incapacitate a suspect so they can be cuffed with little effort, many officers have apparently gotten lazy or unsure of relying on their physical skills. I say this as a general comment about the use of tasers, not specifically about this particular incident. Most likely the use of the taser in this instance was exactly what the taser was designed to used for, too bad it didn’t disable the suspect enough to avoid him being killed; I’ll wager that the officers didn’t “enjoy” killing another human, but did what they had to to protect themselves.


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I wish somebody would answer my question about why he would get out of the car

with the gun in his hand. That was clearly a suicide by cop move and yet he was such a bad guy that we know he wanted to shot at them so why did he let them see the gun prior to pulling the trigger? I know that we aren’t mind readers but there just doesn’t seem to be an explanation other than he was rattled I guess?


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“it is not good when someone dies. Someone always monday morning QBs you. ”


Are you serious?


Furthermore, you know nothing about me or anyone else on this board, so don’t assume you’ve got the biggest balls here (metaphorically speaking) just because you got shot at before.


I stand by my prior statements. The story being told the SMPD and its representatives is inconsistent, and they refuse to discuss certain important aspects, other than to say they magically have the information for those aspects.


You may be surprised at this, but our country is not yet ruled by a group of local junta’ in the guise of police departments and sheriffs’ departments.


We pay their salaries, and they are accountable to us. We have the right to nail them for the inconsistencies until they can work it up enough to get their story–at least–straight.


Capice?


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Watched the videos, I wouldn’t own a taser for nothing, and I don’t get this


,”“at no time did I say to anyone that these officers had been fired on. It wasn’t that he (Ceballos) didn’t try… he had his finger on the trigger.”


Let’s see finger on the trigger and you don’t fire a shot after getting tased, seems like a gentleman with a lot of self control.


Just maybe he was getting out to give up.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,BLAM, BLAM< BLAM, BLAM, somebody tell us how many BLAMS?


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MARY: “LOL. I post about the issues in a subject that are of concern to me. Do you really expect all posters to list all of the statements in the article before they post an opinion on the parts of it that are of concern?”


TED: “Mary, Mary, quite contrary! No dear, not ALL posters, but just you because you “cherry-picked” your content for obvious reasons to support your opinionated hypotheticals! What I proposed was the foundation of the “cause” in why Ceballos was shot. Your weak refutation was a fallacious argument of “Argument By Selective Observation”. This is one many disingenuous fallacies that so many use to support their otherwise weak assertions. Shame on you. :(”


———————————–


When you must try to rewrite the standards of debate to fit your own narrow-minded World Vision, or to try to justify your own weak argument, it’s a clue that you’re out of your league. It is also clear you are clueless about logic.


I have never heard of a debate situation where the participants are required to make the other debaters’ arguments’ points for them. Your absurd insistence that it is shamefulf or me to not make another person’s argument for them is ridiculous.


Make your own argument. Don’t insist other posters help you make it.


I was addressing the building problems with the SMPD’s version of what happened. That is what I focused on. If you want to focus on another part of the story, go for it. Don’t insist I am wrong for not doing it for you.


Finally, the fact that you criticize ME for doing it, and none of the others posting here (who routinely do the same thing–as is the norm for posting) shows your true agenda: to attack ME, and not MY ARGUMENT.


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Get some sleep, Ted!


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This whole affair stinks to me as well as some other posters here. I sure hope CCN does a follow up on the investigation (why didn’t they handle this differently, did they really surround the vehicle thereby putting the officers at risk of stray bullets, how many shots were fired, why does their story change from moment to moment, why was the guy tazered, and why wasn’t that effective?).

I would think they should have done this away from the school, stick a gun in the guy”s face and get him to climb out etc. I don’t know but if he was supposed to be difficult it seems the ‘take down’ was an amateur tactic.


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