San Diego County sheriff’s deputies shot a suspect multiple times even though he was complying with their orders to surrender and his back was turned to them, an independent investigation of the 2022 encounter has concluded.
Nonetheless, investigators from the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board found there was not enough evidence to prove that the deputies did not fear for their safety moments before they opened fire.
Erik Jaracuarro Talavera was shot Feb. 16, 2022, while Deputy David Lovejoy and his partner were responding to a request for help from a regional auto-theft task force. They confronted Talavera at an El Cajon cul-de-sac.
According to the review, body-worn camera footage showed that “Deputy Lovejoy’s reactionary trigger pull and subsequent discharge of (his) firearm occurred when Talavera’s back was to the deputies and he was bending towards the ground.”
Talavera was targeted in an initial volley of 10 rounds shot by Lovejoy and his partner, identified as Jonathan Young. He was shot at a second time as the deputies approached because they thought he was reaching for a weapon, the review board said.
In the chaotic moments of the shooting, a National City police officer also working for the regional auto-theft task force was struck by a bullet fired by one of the sheriff’s deputies. The officer was struck in the leg and missed several months of work.
Talavera was seriously injured but survived. He was jailed for months, and his lawyers said he was denied proper medical care while in sheriff’s custody. He is now homeless and continues to suffer from the effects of his injuries, they added.
The review board is scheduled to discuss the findings at its Tuesday night meeting, although the determinations are advisory only and do not carry any official authority.
Attorneys for Talavera planned to hold a press conference Tuesday morning to outline their version of events, and introduce a lawsuit they filed against the Sheriff’s Department on Monday. The legal complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages, attorneys’ fees and court costs.
The Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the review board findings. The department generally declines to discuss the circumstances outlined in any lawsuit filed against the county.
According to the review board investigation, the task force regularly used a “bait trailer” equipped with GPS tracking to catch thieves intent on stealing.
On the evening of Feb. 16, 2022, task force officers followed that trailer to a cul-de-sac in El Cajon. They saw a van driven by Talavera towing the suspected stolen trailer. They radioed for help, and Lovejoy was first on the scene; Young arrived moments later.
Both men quickly drew their service weapons. Talavera shouted “just shoot me” and reached into his waistband to produce a “black metallic object,” the review board said. Lovejoy fired first, and Young opened fire moments later.
“Deputy Lovejoy fired 10 rounds at Talavera,” investigators said. “Talavera was struck numerous times, fell to the ground and dropped the black metallic object.”
The black object turned out to be a knife, the review board said. Lovejoy fired several more rounds at Talavera after the suspect made a “furtive move” toward the knife while he was on the ground.
In the federal lawsuit filed Monday, Talavera’s attorneys said sheriff’s deputies were aware the object was not a gun but fired at him anyway, even though he was 40 feet away.
“Only after the deputies turned off their cameras, went back to their station, spoke to one another without any recording and reviewed the partial body-worn camera footage did the shooters first claim to have mistakenly believed Mr. Talavera had a gun,” the lawsuit said.
The plaintiff’s lawyers also said the review board’s recommended findings ignored reasons to doubt the deputies’ version of events.
“Neither deputy claimed at the scene to have believed Mr. Talavera had a gun,” they said in a press release. “Neither warned other law enforcement about a possible gun on the ground before, during or after the gunfire.
“Even today, Deputy Lovejoy says he saw a ‘black metallic object’ rather than a gun,” the lawyers added. “But it is not enough for deputies to fire guns and say afterwards that they mistakenly thought a suspect might have a gun.”
The review board also evaluated a complaint filed from the National City police officer who was struck by a stray bullet as Lovejoy and Young repeatedly fired at Talavera.
It found problems with what happened on the El Cajon cul-de-sac last year, but investigators were unable to sustain allegations that the two sheriff’s deputies improperly fired their weapons due to a lack of evidence.
The review board lists complaints as “sustained” when evidence confirms allegations, “not sustained” when there is not enough evidence to confirm complaints and “unfounded” when evidence rebuts a complaints.
Other claims are deemed “action justified” when law enforcement officers acted properly or summarily dismissed when complaints are outside the civilian oversight board’s jurisdiction.
“This investigation highlighted that the communication between the undercover detectives and the assisting uniformed deputies was disjointed and complicated,” the report found.
“In summary, this investigation indicated that ‘friendly fire’ was responsible for the complainant’s injuries, given the alleged lack of proper communication and concerns about their lack of situational awareness.”
While the review board findings do not identify the injured National City police officer, or even name the agency that employs him, he is identified in court papers as Rowdy Pauu.
Pauu filed his own lawsuit in San Diego federal court earlier this year. He said he lost four months of work and endured months of physical therapy as a result of getting shot in the leg.
The National City officer also recounts numerous examples in which he says sheriff’s deputies used excessive force in response to calls for service, and other cases in which he says sheriff’s officials failed to properly train or discipline deputies.
In one prior case, for example, Lovejoy pulled over a woman for no discernible reason and then dragged her from the car by her hair after she began filming the encounter, the lawsuit asserts.
“These incidents, and other similar incidents, put the county on notice of serious problems among its sheriff’s deputies and a concrete risk of continuing excessive force issues,” lawyers for Talavera wrote in their complaint.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported earlier this year that San Diego County has paid more than $60 million in legal settlements and jury awards in recent years as a result of negligence and other lawsuits filed against the Sheriff’s Department.
