POLICE FILES - Feb. 10, 2000

--Eron Ben-Yehuda, Angelique Flores

LAWSUIT CLAIMS WRONGDOING IN FATAL POLICE SHOOTING

A lawsuit is alleging Huntington Beach police killed an unarmed man by

shooting him “execution style.”

On April 22, officers pumped 10 bullets into David Blackman while he was

standing against the wall by the driveway of his girlfriend’s apartment

in the 18700 block of Libra Circle, according to court documents filed

Friday. The 43-year-old man, who had his hands in the air at the time,

was surrounded by several officers and was trailed by a police

helicopter, the suit states. One officer in particular, Aaron Smith,

“panicked” before shooting Blackman “at point-blank range” while the

man’s 5-year-old daughter, Megan Nicolle Blackman, watched nearby, the

documents claim.

At the time of the incident, police said that Blackman stepped forward

and challenged Smith, who was responding to a domestic violence call.

Huntington Beach Police Department spokesman Lt. Chuck Thomas would not

elaborate, but he pointed out that investigations by the Orange County

Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office have cleared

Smith of any criminal wrongdoing.

The suit alleges that an eyewitness photographed the incident, but that

police confiscated the camera and film.

Blackman suffered massive bleeding from gunshot wounds to the head,

stomach and arm, which led to his death, the suit states.

The suit, seeking unspecified damages, was filed on behalf of Blackman’s

estate, his girlfriend, Desiree Ulmer, and their daughter. They had

sought $80 million in an earlier claim filed with the city that was

rejected in October.

AUTHORITIES TO INVESTIGATE OFF-ROADING IN MARSHLAND

A member of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust filed a report Friday with the

Police and Sheriff’s departments after three pickup trucks were spotted

trespassing in the Bolsa Chica marshland during last week’s visit by Rep.

Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).

During the tour of the wetlands, members of the Land Trust noticed the

three trucks off-roading below the bluffs.

Dean Albright, a Land Trust member, approached the off-roaders and

snapped a picture of one of the trucks and its license plate. Two of the

trucks backtracked upon Albright’s arrival. Albright claims the driver of

the third truck tried to run him over before leaving.

“There have always been trespassers there for the past 20 years,” said

Lt. Richard Paddock of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Paddock said trucks, motorcycles and pedestrians have all been reported

trespassing in the wetlands. Because the crime is a misdemeanor, it must

be done in the presence of a sheriff’s deputy for any citations or

arrests to be made.

The Huntington Beach Police Department is trying to identify the driver

who Albright said tried to run him down. The Sheriff’s Department will be

keeping an eye on the area for any more trespassing on the wetlands.

“That’s habitat for endangered species,” said Juana Mueller, the Land

Trust vice president.

Vehicles that enter that area could destroy pickle weed and bird nests.

“When they make a track like that, it’s ruined until it gets rebuilt,”

Mueller said.

Though no-trespassing signs are already posted at the end of Bolsa Chica

Road, where the trucks entered, no signs are posted beyond that. For now,

the Land Trust plans to post signs in the wetlands and will also put up a

log barricade.

“These trucks have been doing this for sometime in that same area,”

Albright said. “They have torn up about two acres of sensitive wetlands.”