Two years ago this week, San Diego sheriff’s deputies shot Erik Jaracuarro Talavera more than 10 times as he sought to surrender to authorities.
Now the civilian board that oversees the Sheriff’s Department is seeking more details about what happened on the evening of Feb. 16, 2022, in an El Cajon cul-de-sac where members of a regional auto-theft task force unloaded on the suspect.
The Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board has voted to send two letters of concern to Sheriff’s Department officials — one seeking details about the “excessive number of rounds fired” and the other asking if “communication issues” exacerbated the situation.
“Is there any information the Sheriff’s Department can provide that would allay CLERB’s concern with the number of rounds fired by deputies in these situations and to ensure the public it is doing all it can to minimize the risk to innocent bystanders?” one of the letters said.
A National City police officer who was at the scene also was struck in the leg by a bullet fired by officers during the shooting. He missed several months of work and later sued the county over his injury.
The review board’s requests for additional information came almost three months after the board released the results of its independent investigation into the shooting of Talavera, who was badly wounded but survived the encounter.
The independent investigation did not result in any findings that deputies acted improperly or violated department policies when they encountered him on the cul-de-sac in El Cajon.
But out of six claims of potential misconduct, the review board ruled three as “action justified.” One was declared unfounded, and two were “not sustained,” meaning there was not enough evidence to prove or disprove the allegation.
Among other things, the review board is asking department officials about the training deputies receive related to firing their weapons, whether they are taught to “stop the threat” and how that might be defined.
An encryption issue hindered communications between law enforcement officers during the initial response, forcing a deputy to rely on a cellphone, the review board noted. Board members asked for details about what happened and whether the problem had been fixed.
The Sheriff’s Department said it had just received the letters and would reply directly to the review board.
“We believe this is the best way to ensure positive input from both parties,” spokesperson Lt. David LaDieu said by email. “We will be providing a response to the CLERB as soon as an internal review is completed.”
