Newhall Shooting - A Tactical Analysis. Michael E. Wood

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СКАЧАТЬ deck, the brim of his uniform hat trapped between the ground and his forehead. His hands were trapped under his body near the waist and not in sight. When Officer Pence’s torso was raised up, his revolver was found in his hands with the cylinder open and six rounds of live .357 Magnum ammunition in the cylinder, indicating that he had almost completed his reload before he was executed by Twining.

      Anderson describes that Officer Pence had fumbled two of the six rounds during the reload and was able to recover one of them from the ground and load it in the revolver before he closed the cylinder, but it’s not clear how the number of fumbled cartridges was known, and other elements (number of loaded cartridges, cylinder closed, etc.) conflict with Officer Ingold’s clear recollection of an open cylinder with six cartridges. Massad Ayoob’s narrative, based on the CHP’s version, confirms the notion that Officer Pence was able to reload all six cartridges before he was executed.

      Disturbingly, it appears Officer Pence wasted precious moments immediately before he was executed by Twining. Had he accepted a partial load of the gun and returned quickly to the fight, instead of fully loading the revolver, he might have been able to close the cylinder on his revolver and fire upon Twining before Twining could deliver the final killing shot. Of course, it must be realized that Officer Pence was horribly wounded at this point and his body and mind were under tremendous stress, both of which would make this kind of detached, analytical thinking exceptionally difficult, if not impossible. Anderson, J., & Cassady, M. (1999) The Newhall Incident. Fresno, CA: Quill Driver Books. p.146, and Ayoob, M. (1995) The Ayoob Files: The Book. Concord, NH: Police Bookshelf, p.122, and California Highway Patrol. (1975) Newhall: 1970 [Film], and personal interview with CHP Sergeant (ret.) Harry Ingold (2011)

      40. Mister Kness heard Twining make the comment and saw the execution shot immediately after his unsuccessful attempt to fire a second shot at Davis with Officer Alleyn’s revolver. Hearing the “105mm Howitzer” boom of Twining’s pistol and seeing Officer Pence go down was the final straw that convinced him he needed to escape. Interview with Mr. Kness. Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. (2010) The Newhall Incident: A Law Enforcement Tragedy [Film]. Santa Clarita, CA, courtesy of Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and SCVTV, <http://www.scvtv.com/html/scvhs040510btv.html>.

      41. Officer Ingold remembered the Polara’s speedometer was indexed up to 130 miles per hour and the red needle of the speedometer was in the black, past this last unit of measure.

      The 1969 Polara was the most famous and adored of all the CHP cruisers, because it was the king of speed. During the test trials at Chrysler’s track in Chelsea, Michigan, the 440 cubic-inch, 375 bhp (brake horsepower) muscle car set a track record for the highest top-end speed achieved by a factory built four-door sedan—an impressive 149.6 miles per hour! The record remained unchallenged for 25 years, and even then there are those who question whether the 1994 Chevrolet Caprice (with its specially tuned Corvette engine), honestly and fairly beat it. Huffman, J. (1994, June) Chrysler Police Cars 1956-1978. Motor Trend Magazine, 102-106, and Ellestad, S. (n.d.) The History of Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth Police Cars-1969. [Online], <http://www.allpar.com/squads/history.html> and “Grant G.” posting as “Granttt73”. (n.d.) [Online], <http://www.flickr.com/photos/13411027@N00/566744694/>, and personal interview with CHP Sergeant (ret.) Harry Ingold (2012).

      42. At the time, neither Officer Robinson nor Officer Holmes realized that their car had been hit by gunfire. After spending most of the morning participating in the manhunt for the felons and giving statements to investigators at the scene, the two officers took their unit back to the Newhall Area Office to do volumes of reports. While there, the day shift officers reported for work and received their beat and unit assignments. The officer who was assigned Officer Holmes and Robinson’s vehicle discovered the bullet strike during his pre-shift walk around inspection, and found Officer Robinson to question him about it. Incredulous, Officer Robinson followed him outside to look at the vehicle, and realized for the very first time that one of the felon’s bullets had struck above the “H” in the “Highway Patrol” rocker, dotting one of the bars “like a lower case ‘i’.” It was then that Officer Robinson realized how close he had come to getting shot as he bailed out the door. Personal interview with Officer (Retired) Richard Robinson.

      43. In the stress of the event, Mr. Kness didn’t realize he had the empty revolver in his hand until he ran into Officer Robinson. It was then he realized that he was covered in blood, holding a gun, and fleeing from a shooting scene, none of which looked good. Hiding the gun behind his thigh, Mr. Kness directed Officer Robinson towards the killers and hoped that the officer wouldn’t think he was one of them. Fortunately for Mr. Kness, Officer Robinson had not consciously noticed him or the gun. Officer Robinson later recalled that in the extreme stress of the moment, he was so totally focused on the escaping Pontiac that he had no memory of running across Mr. Kness at all. Whether it was Officer Robinson’s extreme focus on the Pontiac/threat (tunnel vision?) or his rapid subconscious assessment of Mr. Kness as a “friendly” who didn’t bear further investigation, Mr. Kness fortunately escaped becoming the tragic victim of fratricide. After the brief encounter with Officer Robinson, Mr. Kness sat down in the ditch and waited, emotionally spent. Interview with Mr. Kness. Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. (2010) The Newhall Incident: A Law Enforcement Tragedy [Film]. Santa Clarita, CA, courtesy of Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and SCVTV, <http://www.scvtv.com/html/scvhs040510btv.html>, Personal interview with CHP Officer (Retired) Richard Robinson, and Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department homicide investigation files.

      44. The sequence of events during this part of the shooting is not entirely clear. In the CHP narrative of the shooting, Officer Holmes fires at Davis as Davis is getting into the driver’s side of the vehicle, and then fires again at the Pontiac as it speeds off through the gas pump islands.

      However, in his report that was filed that morning, Officer Holmes wrote that, as they arrived on the scene, he observed a suspect at the rear of Unit 78-12 by Officer Pence. This suspect ran to the left rear of the Pontiac, turned, and fired once at Officers Holmes and Robinson as Officer Holmes was getting out of the door. The suspect fired with his right hand across the rear trunk deck, and then entered the vehicle on the driver’s side. Officer Holmes fired at this suspect with one shot.

      This suspect would have been Twining, not Davis. Twining had just executed Officer Pence and was standing near him. Additionally, Twining is the suspect that fired at Officers Holmes and Robinson as they arrived, according to the CHP narrative and witness statements.

      Adding to the confusion, Officer Holmes described the suspect as wearing a yellow shirt, but it was Davis who had a yellow windbreaker on during the shooting, not Twining. Twining was wearing a green sweatshirt. Perhaps it took on a yellow tint under the neon lighting from the gas station, or perhaps Officer Holmes was just confusing the details of the fast-breaking situation.

      So, while it is unclear whether Officer Holmes fired at Davis or Twining, it is presumed that his memory of firing at Twining (the suspect who was near Pence when they arrived, and who shot at them), was correct.

      Other witness testimony about this phase of the fight is also unclear, particularly when it comes to how Twining entered the Pontiac. Some witnesses reported that Twining entered the vehicle on the driver’s side after Davis and pushed Davis out of the way. Others reported first seeing Twining entering on the driver’s side, then witnessed considerable movement and hearing shouting within the vehicle before it drove away. Still others reported that Twining entered the vehicle on the passenger side, perhaps confusing the timeline for when he entered the vehicle this way earlier in the fight to obtain the 1911 handgun on Unit 78-12’s arrival.

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