(May 13, 2015) -- LBREPORT.com has learned that the LBPD officer who fatally shot Hector Morejon, age 19, had received two commendations and was involved in two "use of force" incidents. One of the use of force incidents involved use of a taser (June 2011, area of LB Blvd/7th-9th St., details below); the other involved use of his gun (March 2002 officer-involved shooting.) LBREPORT.com provides details on the two commendations and one of the two use of force incidents (on which we have details now) below. Mr. Morejon was fatally shot on April 23 in the 1100 block of Hoffman Ave. in a vacant apartment unit whose interior walls, police say, were covered with graffiti. LBPD provided its description of the circumstances in an April 24 (coverage here.) Mr. Morejon's family, through its attorneys, subsequently have released a statement on the matter (coverage here.) [Scroll down for further.] |
In response to a request by LBREPORT.com (and others) under the CA Public Records Act, LBPD identified the officer as Jeffrey A. Meyer, previously indicated as a 20+ year LBPD officer. Details of the two LBPD commendations are below. Details of the March 2002 officer involved shooting weren't available on May 12 [and LBREPORT.com has since requested information related to them]. However LBREPORT.com independently found the June 2011 taser incident in which Officer Meyer and other officers were involved detailed in a state Court of Appeal opinion. The reviewing court sustained the conviction of the defendant for attempted murder, mayhem and three counts of resisting arrest (sentenced to 27 years in prison.). [Scroll down for further.]
LBPD indicates that Officer Meyer received two Merritorious Commendations as follows: A Meritorious C commendation in 1997 is described as follows: [LBPD text] Officer Meyer responded with other officers to a suicidal female who had cut her wrists. The woman was throwing glass objects at the officers and threatening them with a knife. She broke out a 2nd story window and threatened to jump out the window if the officers approached her. While cutting and stabbing herself with the broken glass she told the officers she wanted them to shoot her. Officer Meyer and the other officers came up with a plan to rush towards the woman in order to keep her from jumping out the window and to keep her from cutting herself. They were able to safely detain her and get her the medical attention she needed. Officer Meyer also received a Meritorious C commendation in 1998 described as follows: [LBPD text] Officer Meyer was on a call for service when an unrelated 16-year-old male juvenile approached him holding a 2-year-old female child and said the child was choking. Officer Meyer observed the child was limp and her eyes had rolled to the back of her head. Officer Meyer immediately performed CPR, but was initially unable to clear the obstruction from the child’s airway. Officer Meyer then performed the Heimlich maneuver which cleared the child’s airway. The child started to breath and slowly opened her eyes. Paramedics who responded to the scene stated that if it were not for the quick actions of Officer Meyer the child would have likely died. [Scroll down for further.]
Below are portions the Court of Appeal opinion describing the June 2011 response in which Officer Meyer was involved. [We've removed the name of the crime victim and other responding officers.] [Text from Court of Appeal opinion, People v. Bejarano] On June 20, 2011, [a woman] was driving down Long Beach Boulevard in Long Beach when she saw two men fighting in the middle of the street. One of them was defendant. The second man was on the ground and defendant was hitting him with his fists. [She] shouted to them to “stop fighting before I call the police.” She then parked her car in a red zone in front of a nearby market, intending to go into the store. She got out of the car, and saw the man on the ground “hollering 'help,' ” and the defendant beating him. She again yelled out, “you guys should stop fighting.” The defendant stopped and put his head down, and [the woman] continued to walk toward the store. Then, defendant punched her from behind on the side of her head. She ran for her car, and defendant followed her. He was so close that she was “scared to get in my car,” and she continued into the store. She asked the store clerks to call the police because she saw defendant trying to get into her car, and at first she thought he was going to steal it.
As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, in an April 24, 2015 release, LBPD stated that on April 23, officers responded to a residential multi-unit complex in the 1100 block of Hoffman Avenue regarding a report of several subjects unlawfully trespassing and vandalizing inside a vacant residence. When officers arrived [release text] they discovered an open window with no screen at the rear of the residence; the officers located a second window that was broken, with the screen removed; an officer [now identified as Officer Meyer] looked through the opening to the broken window and observed a male suspect standing next to a wall; the officer observed the suspect turn towards him, while bending his knees, and extending his arm out as if pointing an object which the officer perceived was a gun and the officer fired, killing Mr. Morejon, who was unarmed. Mr. Morejon's family, through its attorneys, released a statement reported by LBREPORT.com at this link. On May 12, 2015, LBPD declined to release some items requested by LBREPORT.com related to the April 23 fatal shooting, citing section 6254(4) of the Public Records Act exempting from disclosure "Records of complaints to, or investigations conducted by, or records of intelligence information or security procedures of...any state or local police agency, or any investigatory or security files compiled by any other state or local police agency, or any investigatory or security files compiled by any other state or local agency for correctional, law enforcement, or licensing purposes." Further to follow. blog comments powered by Disqus Recommend LBREPORT.com to your Facebook friends:
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