Recordings from Riverside County sheriff’s deputies’ body-worn cameras released on Tuesday, Feb. 25, show the deputies shooting a man after he threw an object at one while sitting in a car he had set ablaze.
On the recordings of the Jan. 8 confrontation in Temecula narrated by Sheriff Chad Bianco, the man is heard refusing to get out of the car while insulting the deputies.
The object was a foot-long hammer, Bianco said.
The man, identified as 33-year-old San Diego resident Christian Alejandro Rodriguez, survived the shooting.
Rodriguez pleaded not guilty on Jan. 15 to charges of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, resisting arrest, arson and cruelty to an animal, all felonies, Superior Court records show. He was being held in lieu of $500,000 bail at Cois M. Byrd Detention Center in French Valley. He is next due in court on April 10.
Video of the shooting below is graphic and may be disturbing.
Deputies went to the 32200 block of Cask Lane around 6 p.m. after a caller said an unwelcomed family member broke into the home while his wife and son were inside. That person, later identified as Rodriguez, then left but remained outside and was acting erratically, Sgt. Wenndy Brito-Gonzalez, a sheriff’s spokeswoman, said at the time.
By the time deputies arrived, Rodriguez had smashed the car windows, set it on fire and climbed into the front seat. Deputies ordered him to come out, but he refused, the recording shows
About 25 seconds after the deputies’ first command, Rodriguez says, “I’m going to shoot you.” About two seconds later, an object flies out of the car toward a deputy. Both deputies then fire.
Rodriguez, who got out of the vehicle on his own, was hospitalized before being booked. No deputies were injured.
The Riverside County Force Investigations Detail, led by the District Attorney’s Office, is investigating the shooting. The Sheriff’s Department will conduct an internal investigation to determine whether the deputies followed policy and training.