Police work the scene of a police shooting that left an officer dead after he resisted arrest in Santa Maria. (Santa Maria Times) |
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KTLA) -- Police officers shot and killed one of their own Saturday morning as they tried to arrest him on suspicion of having a sexual relationship with a teenager.
The officer was on duty, working at a DUI checkpoint about 1:20 a.m. at the intersection of McElhaney Avenue and Broadway in Santa Maria when other officers from the department came to take him into custody.
Though police initially refrained from releasing the slain officer's name, family members on Sunday identified him as 29 year-old Albert Covarrubias Jr., a four-year veteran of the Santa Maria Police Department.
Police said he had to be arrested immediately on suspicion of illegal sex with a teenage minor early Saturday because of the seriousness of the evidence and allegations against him.
The officer physically resisted the arrest and fired his gun before another officer fatally shot him at a DUI checkpoint where he'd been working, police said. No one else was injured.
Santa Maria detectives were investigating claims that the officer was having sex with a 17-year-old girl. The investigation was carried out as quickly as possible and the department moved to remove the officer from duty, Police Chief Danny Macagni told the Santa Maria Times.
Macagni said in a news conference Saturday that detectives believed the officer knew that he was under investigation, that witnesses were being intimidated, and that the public would be at risk if authorities did not take him into custody before he left his shift.
But when officers went to arrest the suspected officer while at the DUI checkpoint, he resisted and fired his gun. That's when another officer shot the suspected officer in the chest.
"We had no choice. And I am not at liberty to divulge the specifics of the ongoing information that caused us to take the action that we did," Macagni said at the news conference. "But let me stress the fact that we had information in hand that was very specific, that demanded we go out and take this officer off the street immediately. There is some witness intimidation involved and the allegations of sexual misconduct are very explicit."
Paramedics rushed the suspected officer to Marian Medical Center where he later died
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department is now investigating the fatal shooting.
The officer was on duty, working at a DUI checkpoint about 1:20 a.m. at the intersection of McElhaney Avenue and Broadway in Santa Maria when other officers from the department came to take him into custody.
Though police initially refrained from releasing the slain officer's name, family members on Sunday identified him as 29 year-old Albert Covarrubias Jr., a four-year veteran of the Santa Maria Police Department.
Police said he had to be arrested immediately on suspicion of illegal sex with a teenage minor early Saturday because of the seriousness of the evidence and allegations against him.
The officer physically resisted the arrest and fired his gun before another officer fatally shot him at a DUI checkpoint where he'd been working, police said. No one else was injured.
Santa Maria detectives were investigating claims that the officer was having sex with a 17-year-old girl. The investigation was carried out as quickly as possible and the department moved to remove the officer from duty, Police Chief Danny Macagni told the Santa Maria Times.
Macagni said in a news conference Saturday that detectives believed the officer knew that he was under investigation, that witnesses were being intimidated, and that the public would be at risk if authorities did not take him into custody before he left his shift.
But when officers went to arrest the suspected officer while at the DUI checkpoint, he resisted and fired his gun. That's when another officer shot the suspected officer in the chest.
"We had no choice. And I am not at liberty to divulge the specifics of the ongoing information that caused us to take the action that we did," Macagni said at the news conference. "But let me stress the fact that we had information in hand that was very specific, that demanded we go out and take this officer off the street immediately. There is some witness intimidation involved and the allegations of sexual misconduct are very explicit."
Paramedics rushed the suspected officer to Marian Medical Center where he later died
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department is now investigating the fatal shooting.
