Fear for Life Triggered 15-Shot Slaying of Suspect

Escondido police said Wednesday that the officer who shot and killed a 17-year-old suspected car thief Monday night fired his weapon 15 times because he feared for his life while the two struggled, and speculated that the victim may have been on drugs and was exhibiting unusual strength.

Officer Martin Hewlett, who was placed on routine administrative leave pending completion of the investigation into the shooting, shot 15 rounds from his semiautomatic 9-millimeter pistol, although it remained unclear Wednesday how often the teen-ager was struck.

The victim was identified by the county coroner’s office Wednesday as Robert Scriven, who lived with his mother in an apartment in the 500 block of North Fig Street in Escondido.

Scriven had been released in October from the California Youth Authority after serving time for auto theft, Escondido police spokesman Capt. John Fitzgerald said. Scriven, he said, was known to local police, but he said Hewlett didn’t know his identity at the time.

No Drugs Found in Vehicle

Deputy Coroner Max Murphy said Wednesday that he expected to complete the autopsy today, although the results of a toxicology report, which would show whether any drugs were in the victim’s body, would not be available for a week or more.

Fitzgerald said no drugs were found in the stolen vehicle that was being driven by Scriven Monday night, although police found a large knife in the car. The knife had a large grip contoured to fit a man’s hand, he said.

“There is an indication he may have been using drugs . . . previously and perhaps he was using them that night,” Fitzgerald said. “He may have been under the influence. We’ve received that indication, but we won’t know until the toxicology report is in.”

The speculation that Scriven might have been under the influence of drugs was raised because of the apparent difficulty Hewlett had while struggling with Scriven, who at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds is both shorter and lighter than the officer, who was described as over 6 feet tall and husky.

Lost Control of Car

The incident reportedly began after another police officer saw Scriven, in a stolen sports car, run a stop sign. A pursuit began, and Hewlett joined the chase. He was closest in pursuit along the 1000 block of North Broadway, just outside the Escondido city limits, when Scriven lost control of his vehicle at a curve and jumped out of it as it came to a stop off the road, Fitzgerald said.

Hewlett chased Scriven into heavy brush and caught up with him about 100 yards from the street, Fitzgerald said. The two began struggling and as Hewlett unholstered his weapon, Scriven grabbed for it.

Hewlett fired 15 of the 16 rounds contained in his semiautomatic, which requires the trigger be squeezed for each shot, Fitzgerald said. He said the department did not know how many times Scriven was struck, but that apparently he was shot from short range and that all the spent bullet casings were found close together on the ground.

Other officers heard the gunshots but did not know whose weapon was fired, and who may have been hit, until they heard Hewlett’s voice on his portable radio calling for paramedics. Even then, the backup officers had difficulty finding Hewlett in the brush until he shone his flashlight on bushes for them to spot.

No Arbitrary Firing Rule

Fitzgerald said the department has no arbitrary rule on how often a police officer should fire his weapon to bring down a suspect. “Our policy is to use the amount of force necessary to overcome the resistance offered,” he said.

Both the San Diego Police Department and Sheriff’s Department training academies teach recruits to fire their weapons as often as necessary to stop the threat to their own safety, spokesmen for the two agencies said. The policy comes from FBI advice after a shoot-out in Miami several years ago when two agents were killed and three others injured.

Both Escondido police and the Sheriff’s Department will conduct investigations into the shooting, and their reports will be turned over to the district attorney’s office for evaluation, Fitzgerald said.

After the district attorney’s review, he said, the department will convene its own, internal police shooting review board, as is customary whenever a police officer fires his weapon.

Monday’s incident was the fourth in more than 20 years in which Escondido police have fatally shot people, Fitzgerald said. In 1987, a suspect who had fired his weapon and then pointed it at police who surrounded him was himself shot and killed. In 1983, police shot and killed a bank robber in a shoot-out after he had taken a hostage and then led police on a slow, serpentine chase through a residential neighborhood. In that same incident, hostage Leslie Landersman was also mistakenly shot and killed by a police officer as she lunged to escape from her captor.

Several years previous, Fitzgerald said, two officers shot and killed a man who attacked them with an ax.