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Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 18,458
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RE: Police spokesman blasts media for their response to cop's death (video)
Here's a story on the video,judges screwedup huge.
The driver of the fleeing van that killed a San Francisco police officer was on probation in two counties, was out on bail on felony child sex and burglary charges and had led police on three high-speed chases in the city last year, court records show.
The driver, Steven Wayne Petrilli, 19, was charged Thursday with murder, manslaughter, evading police and robbery in connection with the death of Officer Nick-Tomasito Birco early Wednesday. Also charged were two passengers in the van, Carl Lather, 20, and Nicholas Smith, 22. All are expected to be arraigned today.
A fourth person in the van, Petrilli's girlfriend, was arrested but has not been charged.
Police say Petrilli, Lather and Smith robbed a man at a bus stop on Bayshore Boulevard just after midnight Wednesday, then fled in the van when the robbery victim pointed them out to officers at a nearby McDonald's.
At least two police cruisers chased the van, which had been reported stolen, down Interstate 280 to Colma and back to the city, where the van left the freeway and drove into the Portola district.
At Cambridge and Felton streets, it smashed into the cruiser driven by Birco, 39, a former Marine who had been with the department five years. He was pronounced dead at San Francisco General Hospital.
Lisa DewBerry, Petrilli's attorney, declined to comment Thursday, saying prosecutors had not formally advised her that charges had been filed.
Petrilli, an unemployed construction worker living on welfare and food stamps, has an address in Hayward as well as a past address in San Francisco's Excelsior district, near where the crash occurred.
Officers who arrested Petrilli in the past concluded that he was affiliated with the Norteño gang, police records show. In one case, officers who arrested him noted that he was carrying a red bandana, marking the gang's colors, and a belt buckle with a large "N.''
After one arrest, he told authorities he had been drinking since age 9 and started using drugs at age 11, police records show.
His first arrest as an adult was Dec. 15, 2004, when officers booked him in San Francisco on suspicion of auto theft, reckless driving, speeding and driving without a license after he allegedly ran a red light. Two weeks later, prosecutors decided not to file charges.
Several more run-ins with San Francisco police quickly followed. On Jan. 6, 2005, officers spotted him allegedly driving a stolen vehicle in the Excelsior. Police said he resisted arrest and fled in the car. Prosecutors never filed charges.
On Jan. 26, officers chased him again through the same neighborhood when they spotted him in an allegedly stolen Honda Civic. He ran several stop signs and almost hit a car before he was arrested, police said.
Before he was formally charged, Petrilli allegedly led police on yet another chase in the Excelsior in a stolen Honda on Feb. 2, running four stop signs before officers called off the pursuit. Officers spotted him later that day on a bicycle and arrested him, but prosecutors did not file charges.
On March 31, police in the Mission District arrested Petrilli for allegedly carrying a concealed revolver in a stolen vehicle. The next day, he pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon, and in May he pleaded guilty to auto theft in connection with the Jan. 26 incident. In July, he was sentenced to six months in drug treatment and three years' probation, and was given credit for 35 days he had spent in jail.
Petrilli didn't stay out of custody long. The following month he was arrested again, this time on charges he had engaged in lewd and lascivious conduct with a 13-year-old girl in October 2004. He posted $100,000 bail, but in September was arrested again for allegedly burglarizing the home where the girl used to live.
He made $75,000 bail on that case on Christmas Day 2005. Two days later he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor possession of a stolen vehicle in San Mateo County and was put on informal probation for two years. Another misdemeanor petty theft case was dropped in exchange for his plea.
For several months, he was not in trouble. Then, on June 5, he was arrested in San Francisco on suspicion of vehicle theft. Prosecutors discharged the case the next day for lack of evidence.
San Francisco prosecutors had filed another motion to revoke Petrilli's probation, which is pending. It is unclear what prompted that motion, a hearing on which is set for Sept. 1. His burglary and sex charges are also still pending.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Russ Giuntini said Thursday he was still reviewing the records in the case, but that it appears prosecutors did everything they could to keep Petrilli in custody.
"People are entitled to bail,'' he said. "I wasn't at the bail hearings -- one man's danger is nothing to someone else.''
Gary Delagnes, president of the Police Officers Association, said he had spoken with Giuntini about the handling of the earlier cases against Petrilli and was satisfied with his accounting. However, he said the system was set up in such a way that Petrilli received overly lenient treatment.
"I will find out why this piece of garbage was not incarcerated, because if he was where he was supposed to be, Officer Birco would still be alive,'' Delagnes said
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