Supervisor in Police Shooting Case to Be Fired

The supervisor of the four Riverside police officers who fatally shot 19-year-old Tyisha Miller in her car last December has been told he will be fired, his attorney said Tuesday.

Sgt. Gregory Preece, 38, who has been on the force for three years, will fight to keep his job, his lawyer said. Preece has been on paid administrative leave since early June.

Preece faces firing for allegedly failing to stop the shooting and for allegedly making a racist remark at the scene.

Miller was shot 12 times by police officers who responded to a 911 call reporting a woman unconscious in her car. Upon arriving, the officers found Miller sitting in the driver’s seat, unresponsive and with a gun in her lap. They say they fired when she reached for the weapon after one of the officers broke a window in an attempt to take the gun.

Preece arrived on the scene seconds before the shots were fired. He told investigators it would have been “defeatist” to stop the officers, and said he believed the first shot had come from inside the car.

Preece was summoned Monday to Police Chief Jerry Carroll’s office, where he received his notice of termination, according to attorney Charles A. Goldwasser. A hearing is scheduled for next month.

Goldwasser said he believes the city and its police chief have succumbed to political pressure.

“I think that the Police Department and the chief of police have acted in response to some highly organized public demonstrations,” he said. “The department has jumped to what appears to be a very popular conclusion.”

The Rev. Bernell Butler, a Miller cousin and family spokesman, said he was heartened by the sergeant’s pending dismissal.

“My first response was ‘Hallelujah!’ ” he said. “I feel the city of Riverside is taking a step in the right direction.”

But, Butler said, the family will not feel any relief as long as another officer accused of making racial remarks remains on the force.

Miller’s relatives have accused Preece of comparing their grieving to “a Kwanzaa festival,” a reference to the December holiday celebrating African culture. They said another Riverside officer referred to their cries as “Watts death wails.”

Butler said the protests and marches that have kept the shooting in the national spotlight will continue until the latter officer also is fired.

“They have been giving us one hostage at the time,” Butler said. “The family will feel a lot better if all of the officers are taken off the police force. . . . We don’t want to live in an atmosphere of police brutality and skinhead cops.”

Goldwasser denied that Preece and other Riverside officers are racist. The officers were reacting to the gun on the woman’s lap, not the color of her skin, he added.

“This is not a question of racial animus,” Goldwasser said. “This person had a gun. This is ammunition animus.”

A representative for Chief Carroll declined to comment, citing the confidential nature of personnel matters.

The Riverside Police Officers Assn. said in a statement that while it “cannot condone or support racist behavior by our members,” it will provide legal counsel to any member facing disciplinary action.

Attorney Skip Miller, who represents the city in a federal civil lawsuit by the slain woman’s family, said any disciplinary action would have no impact on the city’s defense. “Whatever administrative action is taken or is not taken is completely irrelevant and inadmissible in the civil rights lawsuit,” he said.

Notice of Preece’s pending termination came on the heels of the firings of the four officers--Paul Bugar, 24; Wayne Stewart, 26; Daniel Hotard, 23; and Michael Alagna, 27. Grounds for their firings included violating department policy by carrying out an unsafe plan that endangered the lives of Tyisha Miller and the officers on the scene.

While critical of the officers’ tactics in firing 23 shots at Miller, the Riverside district attorney declined to prosecute any of the officers, citing a lack of criminal intent.

Federal authorities in Los Angeles are continuing to investigate the Riverside Police Department for possible civil rights violations.