DA declines to file charges in May 4 accidental shooting

GILROY—The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has opted not to file criminal charges against a veteran Gilroy police officer following a May incident where his teenage stepdaughter shot herself in the leg with his personal handgun.
Assistant District Attorney Cindy Hendrickson told the Dispatch this week there was no evidence the officer—whose name was not released—acted in disregard or indifference toward human life in storing the firearm, which the law requires for a criminal negligence charge.
The May 4 shooting on the 500 block of El Cerrito Way was the result of “inattention or a mistake in judgment at most” on part of the 13-year-old girl, Hendrickson said. The girl, not named due to her age, gained access to a .22-caliber handgun belonging to the officer, and shot herself in the leg around 3 p.m. It was not the officer’s duty weapon and was registered as a personal firearm, according to investigators.
“The facts suggest a confluence of events that normally didn’t happen led to a tragic accident,” Hendrickson said, adding that the unnamed officer “normally stored his personal firearm safely.”
Had the District Attorney’s Office decided to file criminal charges, Gilroy Police Department Sgt. Royce Heath said the name of the officer involved would have been made public. However, he described the officer has having “more than 10 years of experience” with the department.
Police declined to say whether disciplinary action was taken against the officer, citing an unspecified state law that prohibits the release of information gathered during an internal investigation unless prosecutors opt to file criminal charges.
Heath recalled one other accidental shooting involving a police firearm within the last 20 years in Gilroy, and that case involved an officer from an outside agency who was living in the city.
“In 20 years of law enforcement, those are the only two cases I know of,” he said.
Both the Gilroy Police Department’s internal affairs unit and the District Attorney’s Office conducted separate, simultaneous investigations into the matter.
“We report the facts and the DA makes a determination from there,” Heath said.
Since criminal charges were not filed, police declined to say whether, after the course of the internal investigation, a violation of departmental policy occurred.
During its end of the investigation, Assistant District Attorney Hendrickson said the officer’s demeanor and behavior following the gunshot was considered. His reaction was consistent with “that of a terrible accident having just occurred” before the teen was rushed to the hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, she said.
Prosecutors gathered no evidence showing the officer had a pattern of behavior where he improperly stored firearms in the past, according to Hendrickson.
“All the factors in the case combined led us to the conclusion it (the shooting) was the result of inattention or a mistake in judgment at most, which the law clearly says is not enough to constitute gross or criminal negligence,” she said.