‘Justice was not done’: Man acquitted on state charges for shooting at deputy faces federal charges
The U.S. attorney’s office announced Wednesday federal charges against a man who was caught on camera assaulting a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy, then stealing and firing her own weapon at her.
Ari Aki Young, 26, was charged with possessing a stolen gun and discharging a gun during a violent crime, among other crimes.
Young was previously acquitted on the most serious state charges of attempted murder and assault with a weapon in 2023, but was convicted of negligently discharging a gun and sentenced to a year and a half in jail.
“We believe justice was not done in those proceedings, and therefore we’re bringing these federal felony charges,” U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said at a news conference in Riverside on Wednesday.
The case began on Sept. 4, 2019, when San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Meagan McCarthy, then Meagan Forsberg, responded to a call from a mother who reported a “disturbance” with her son, Young.
Young confronted McCarthy in the driveway, “very, very angry,” the deputy said in an interview with ABC-7. As she tried to detain Young, he turned and struggled for her gun. He wrestled it from her and opened fire. McCarthy took cover behind a bush. Other deputies arrived and shot Young several times, but he survived.
Typically, federal charges aren’t filed in cases where state charges already apply unless there is substantial government interest, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said.
The state’s felony murder law could allow a man to be charged with murder after a deputy shot and killed a woman.
The dual sovereignty doctrine allows two agencies to file charges for the same crime without violating the 5th Amendment’s double jeopardy clause, as long as the crime affects both jurisdictions.
“It didn’t go the way they wanted state-side,” Rahmani said, so the prosecutors are bringing federal charges.
According to the federal complaint, the gun stolen by Young was owned by the Sheriff’s Department and manufactured out of state. “[The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department] has a large budget and tremendous purchasing power, much of which affects interstate and foreign commerce,” the complaint says.
The charges include violations of the Hobbs Act, which deals with robbery or extortion that affects interstate commerce. According to Rahmani, adding the Hobbs Act violation to the theft of a weapon is not normal and might suggest a weakness in the government’s case.
Typically Hobbs Act cases have stronger ties to interstate commerce, like using a phone to extort someone for money, which this case might lack, he said.
“If there’s no connection to interstate commerce, they have to throw the case out,” he said. “It’s a stretch.”
When asked during the news conference why the jury previously acquitted Young in the state trial, Estrada said he tries “not to read tea leaves in terms of what a jury is looking at, considering or not considering.”
A deputy-involved shooting occurred during an effort to clean up the Santa Ana River bottom.
“When a law enforcement officer is trying to do her job and instead gets brutally assaulted by an individual,” Estrada said, “it is appropriate that there be federal charges and that we send a message that we will not tolerate this type of behavior.”
San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon D. Dicus said during Wednesday’s news conference that he was “shocked” at the verdict against Young and said violence against police officers is on the rise. “Everybody needs to remember that a law enforcement officer can be a victim also,” he said.
During the trial, Young’s lawyer argued McCarthy unlawfully detained him.
Young’s lawyer admitted to jurors that he fired McCarthy’s gun but maintained he didn’t aim at the deputy. Young was found guilty in 2023 of negligently discharging a gun but acquitted of more serious charges of attempting to murder McCarthy and assaulting her with a firearm. The jury could not reach a verdict on counts of battering a peace officer, removing an officer’s gun and resisting arrest.
McCarthy told ABC-7 the verdict left her in “disbelief.” Responding to a call of a possible domestic disturbance, “I would be derelict in my duty if I didn’t investigate,” she said. “I can only do what I can do. I’m a human being, I tried to do my job to help this woman, and unfortunately the suspect’s actions dictated the rest.”
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