Police Shootings Cause Alarm

At a vigil to protest the death of Manuel de Jesus Espina, his widow, Estela Jacome, son Manuel de Jesus Espina Jacome and sister Trinidad Espina, together at right, are joined by supporters. Manuel Espina was fatally shot in a confrontation with a Prince George's police officer. (By Richard A. Lipski -- The Washington Post)
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From 2004 through 2007, county grand juries reviewed 10 police-involved shootings and returned charges in one case, according to police records. Keith Washington, a former county police corporal, was tried, convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison for shooting two unarmed furniture deliverymen, one fatally, at his Accokeek home last year.

According to State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (D), six of the 14 shootings this year are under review by his office.

Spencer said the department's internal review process for such shootings is more rigorous than at any other time in its history because of improvements made since the county agreed to federal monitoring.

Officers in nine of the shootings this year are on leave or desk duty pending the outcome of Ivey's reviews or department investigations, Spencer said. He said four officers in the remaining five shootings have been cleared and have returned to full duty; the other officer was killed.

Vince Canales, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 89, said the increasing number of shootings says more about the recklessness of Prince George's criminals than it does about police conduct. "If they will do this to police officers, imagine what regard they have for Joe Public," he said.

Overall, however, the number of deadly shootings this year by county police exceeds what is typical even in Prince George's most violent years. In 2005, Prince George's high-water mark for violence, with 173 homicides, county police shot and killed four suspects, three fewer than this year. This year, county police have investigated about 85 homicides.

Police say that three of the seven deadly shootings this year followed police pursuits and that five of the seven suspects killed this year were armed. According to police and witnesses, two of the suspects had fired at officers: one was an escaped inmate who carjacked two vehicles before being killed in a cemetery in Suitland, the other a Hyattsville man who shot at an acquaintance and officers during an hours-long standoff.

Samuel J. Summers III, 22, one of the two unarmed suspects, was shot in Upper Marlboro in May after he "implied" that he had a weapon and disobeyed orders to show his hands after a police chase into a wooded area, according to authorities. Officer Kyle Bodenhorn shot Summers. There were no civilian witnesses to the shooting.

Espina, the other unarmed suspect, was drinking in an apartment building stairwell when officer Steven Jackson attempted to arrest him, police said. Police allege that Espina resisted arrest and began to fight the officer. Jackson used pepper spray and his baton, but Espina continued to resist, police said. Espina's son arrived and joined the fray, police said. "The officer, fearing for his life, discharged his issued firearm striking Espina in the torso," police said in a statement.

Espina's son and witnesses have contradicted key points in the police account. The son said he watched as Jackson beat and then shot his defenseless father. Elvia Rivera and her mother, Maria Gamez, who were in the ground-floor apartment where the shooting occurred, have said Jackson appeared to be in control before he fired his gun.

Several senior members of the department, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said they are concerned about a possible trend in this year's shootings and whether it might be related to efforts to boost patrols by putting younger recruits on the streets.

Jackson and Bodenhorn have relatively little experience. Jackson has been on the force for four years, Bodenhorn for 2 1/2 years. Officer Cornelius L. Johnson, who shot a man in March while moonlighting as a security guard, has three years' experience.

Del. Victor R. Ramirez (D-Prince George's), who attended last week's vigil, said the county must take seriously the shooting of Espina and the others.

"Sometimes we have to fess up that in all communities, in all families, there's always one person who slips," Ramirez said. "If those mistakes come out, people have to be held accountable."

Staff writers Ruben Castaneda and James Hohmann and researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.