Fullerton Police Officers responded to a restaurant located in the 1300 block of S. Brookhurst Rd on March 6 at 3:01 am regarding two males that were standing at the front of the doors, possibly under the influence of drugs. The reporting party, who was the manager of the business, was concerned for the employees’ safety as they began to arrive for work.
Officers arrived on the scene and contacted one shirtless male adult, who was uncooperative with Officers’ commands. The male began swinging a belt at officers as they attempted to contact him. Additional officers were requested, and once they arrived, they utilized a taser to attempt to subdue the suspect, which was ineffective.
The suspect continued to act erratically and was uncooperative as he refused to comply with officers’ commands. Officers then utilized a less lethal kinetic energy projectile and struck the suspect, allowing officers to take him into custody. At this time in the investigation, it is believed the suspect sustained a significant injury to the chest area as a result of the use of the less lethal kinetic energy projectile.
Officers began life-saving measures while paramedics responded. The suspect was transported to a local trauma center, where he was later pronounced deceased.
As is standard practice in Orange County, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office will conduct an independent in-custody death investigation.
The suspect was identified as Alejandro Campos Rios, 50 years old, and a resident of Buena Park.
The video can be viewed using the following link https://youtu.be/7nOieJOffgE.
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Categories: Local Business, Local Government, Local News
What, precisely, is a kinetic energy projectile? Is there data on its non-lethal success rate?
There are several types of projectiles. You can view a few here: https://policeproducts.com/less-lethal/ There just happened to be a LA Times story today that contained stats on LAPD’s use of them: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-07/lapd-uses-more-40mm-less-lethal-weapons There is also video of the incident on OC Register. The officers made a correct decision to use this force option given the totality of the circumstances. Don’t blame the officers, blame the uncooperative suspects, who were likely extremely high on meth (watch the video) who gave the officers no other choice but to use this force option. My thoughts and well wishes go out to the officers involved as I know this unintended death weighs heavily on them.
Thanks for the response. It’s helpful. I was not blaming the officers. I was asking questions, which citizens have a duty to do, particularly when a suspect dies in custody and given that we pay for the police department and its weaponry.
“At this time in the investigation, it is believed the suspect sustained a significant injury to the chest area as a result of the use of the less lethal kinetic energy projectile.”
Two things are possible: one, that the officer who fired the NL round was improperly trained in it’s use and hit the chest, or he aimed properly and the suspect was leaping around so much that an accurate shot was impossible…in which case even a NL round should not have been fired.
Years ago a sticky-net gun was available, but not sure if they worked out. Have to look at the URL above.
In any case, have to see the video first Thanks for the reference. The OCR is paywalled, but it may be available elsewhere.
Ok, saw the citizen video at OCR, and saw the officer and suspect facing each other through the confrontation at about 85 feet. (Hard to judge at night at distance.) The sixth round of whatever it was knocked him to his knees, video cuts out and back in, he’s bleeding all over from the chest.
Presumably beanbags were used:
“The weapon, weighing roughly 40 to 50 grams and fired at a velocity of about 230 to 300 feet per second, has previously been linked to cases involving serious injury and death, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.” (OCR)
Seems like:
1. Some rethinking of these beanbags are in order
2. The officer got the aim on the last round wrong
3. The weapon’s aim was defective on the last round.
We need the body cam footage released ASAP.