California Criminal Lawyer Blog

SAN DIEGO DUI DEFENSE NEWS

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has never seen a San Diego police officer shooting she didn't like. In this case regarding San Diego Charger Steve Foley, Dumanis says she will charge neither Foley nor the officer who shot him since they were both acting in self defense.

Now if that isn't just the dumbest thing....

Remember that this rookie Coronado cop was following Foley for more than 40 miles from Coronado in an unmarked car and wearing street cars before he stopped him. Lucky for him Foley didn't shoot him. I mean, if you saw this face in plain clothes following you, and you're a rich football player, what would you do? The stalkarazzi is everywhere, and no offense Officer Mansker, you're plainclothes face doesn't exactly exude sincerity and warmth.

But in typical Bonnie Dumanis fashion, she skates by this obvious police misconduct and uses the wild excuse that it was mutual self defense. Again, this is one of those "say what?" moments... BONNIE, SAY WHAT?

By: TERI FIGUEROA - Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO -- Neither former Chargers linebacker Steve Foley nor the off-duty Coronado police officer who shot him will be charged for his role in an early morning confrontation in Poway in 2006, San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis announced Friday.

Dumanis said her office's investigation revealed that both men were acting in self-defense -- Foley when he confronted the officer after refusing to pull over, and rookie Officer Aaron Mansker when he shot Foley three times.

"It was a reasonable use of deadly force," Dumanis said of Mansker's decision to pull the trigger. "Every person has a right to self defense."

Mansker shot Foley three times on Sept. 3, 2006, on Foley's quiet Poway cul-de-sac after the officer -- who was in street clothes and driving his personal car -- tried to get Foley to pull over on suspicion of drunken driving after pursuing the football player on Highway 163 and Interstate 15. Mansker said he identified himself as a police officer. He said he showed Foley his gun, but not his badge.

Foley approached Mansker on foot after Mansker found himself trapped at the end of the cul-de-sac. Foley's attorney has said Foley thought Mansker was an overzealous fan.

The shooting left the veteran linebacker with .40-caliber bullet wounds in his leg, hip and arm -- injuries that appear to have ended his football career.

"We're not going to have any comment on Steve's situation," Chargers spokesman Bill Johnston said Friday.

Dumanis said her conclusion that Mansker acted in self-defense would have been the same even if Mansker, an Escondido resident at the time of the shooting, had been a private citizen and not a police officer.

She also said in a letter clearing Mansker that Foley passed the "safety and security" of his own home, as he marched 270 feet to confront Mansker.

In a footnote to the letter, Dumanis said she was "mindful" that a prosecution of Mansker would likely open the door for his defense to tell a jury about prior acts of violence by Foley -- including an April 2006 confrontation with police officers in La Jolla.

Foley was also arrested for battery in 1995, domestic violence in April 2000 and for firing a gun later that same year.

Dumanis said her office's investigation, a routine process whenever an officer shoots someone, was not an attempt to affix blame.

"Our focus is narrow," Dumanis said. "All we look at is whether a crime was committed."

Asked about the decision to clear Mansker, Coronado Police Chief Lou Scanlon cited a pending civil suit Foley has filed, charging Mansker and the police department with negligence.

"I can't comment on any of the specifics," Scanlon said. "I think the facts speak for themselves."

The trial is set for June. Foley has not commented on the case; court documents show that attorneys expect his deposition in the civil suit to happen before March.

Neither Foley's attorney nor those representing Mansker and the police department in the civil suit returned calls for comment Friday.

Mansker was briefly sidelined by the police department after the shooting, but returned to his full duties as a patrol officer in January and remains as a patrol officer with the Coronado Police Department.

The confrontation prompted other charges. Foley was charged with misdemeanor drunken driving; he pleaded guilty in May. He was sentenced to five years' probation, assessed a $1,756 fine, ordered to submit to alcohol testing if pulled over by authorities and was told to attend an event for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

And Foley's friend and passenger that night, Lisa Maree Gaut, was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon for driving Foley's car toward Mansker in the waning moments of the confrontation.

But the jury acquitted Gaut on a separate charge of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer -- a charge that alleged she knew that Mansker was a policeman.

Gaut had been a passenger in the car. When Foley got out to confront Mansker, Gaut got behind the wheel and drove, following Foley as he walked toward Mansker.

After Mansker shot Foley, he shot at the car Gaut was driving. He testified he believed she was trying to run him down; she testified that she was simply trying to rescue her friend, who was lying on the street bleeding from a gunshot wound.

Gaut was sentenced to six months in jail on June 22. She is appealing her conviction.