The Kern County Sheriffs Office will conduct its own use-of-force investigation following an incident in Porterville where an armored vehicle intentionally ran over a suspect, killing him.<\/p>\n
Following the shooting of Tulare County Sheriffs Deputy-Detective Randy Hoppert in Porterville Thursday morning, roughly half of KCSOs SWAT team was deployed to assist and \u00a0using the department’s armored BearCat vehicle ultimately killed the suspect after an hours-long standoff.<\/p>\n
As they were approaching the back of the residence, the suspect was lying in wait. \u201cWe think probably waiting for ground troops to ambush them,\u201d KCSO Sheriff Donny Youngblood told reporters Friday.<\/p>\n
As deputies went towards the house, the suspect fired a high-powered rifle, Youngblood said.<\/p>\n
The BearCat took four rounds to the driver’s side of the windshield and the deputies driving the Rook ran over the suspect and the suspect ultimately was killed.<\/p>\n
Youngblood said at least one round pierced the cockpit of the BearCat.<\/p>\n
The suspect identified as David Morales, 59, had barricaded himself inside a house as Tulare County deputies tried to serve an eviction notice. Around 10:20 a.m., Morales opened fire on deputies, hitting Hoppert.<\/p>\n
Hoppert, 35, a six-year veteran of the Tulare County Sheriffs Office, was later pronounced dead at Sierra View Medical Center. Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters Hoppert’s wife is four months pregnant and they had small children as well.<\/p>\n
The use of the BearCat will be investigated internally, Youngblood said, as with any officer use of deadly force. The deputies involved are currently on paid administrative leave until the conclusion of the investigation, according to department policy.<\/p>\n
Youngblood said the investigation is still in its early stages and the involved deputies had not yet even been interviewed. There’s body camera footage of the incident but the department won’t release any details until the end of the investigation.<\/p>\n
Whether or not using a vehicle for deadly force is within KCSOs policy, Youngblood couldn’t immediately say, but the sheriff noted the same concepts apply.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen use of force, deadly force, is used to stop a threat to save your life, all bets are off,\u201d Youngblood said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this particular case the deputy was … they were in fear of their lives. They were being fired with a high-powered rifle.They had actually penetrated the cockpit of the BearCat already. Those deputies lives were on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Youngblood said KCSO currently has two BearCat vehicles which deputies estimated cost between $450,000 and $500,000 with another on order. The BearCat used in Thursday’s incident will likely be repairable.<\/p>\n
KCSO also made use of another piece of equipment known as the Rook, an armored version of a track loader.<\/p>\n
Officers spent hours trying to convince Morales to surrender, even bringing in family members to try to reason with him, Youngblood noted. That having failed, the Rook was used to tear the front of the garage off, Youngblood said.<\/p>\n
It was used to remove a car that was in the garage to give the officers better visibility and better safety.<\/p>\n
The Rook costing roughly $400,000 to $450,000 is relatively new to law enforcement, Youngblood said. The county has only one and it’s been beneficial to the department, he said, citing its use in an Oildale incident.<\/p>\n
Youngblood said KCSO deputies serve eviction notices all the time and deadly violence is one of the hazards of the occupation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe certainly send our prayers to the family of the deputy in Tulare County,\u201d Youngblood said. We hope it never happens again, but we know it will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Condolences for Hoppert and his family continued to pour in Friday, with Gov. Gavin Newsom ordering flags to be flown at half-staff at the state Capitol.<\/p>\n
\u201cI send my deepest condolences to Deputy Hoppert’s family, friends and colleagues mourning his tragic and untimely death. His bravery will never be forgotten,\u201d Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Bakersfield, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
State Assemblywoman Alexandra Macedo also offered her condolences. \u201cThe Central Valley is heartbroken to learn of the tragic loss of a deputy from the Tulare County Sheriff\u2019s Office. This senseless act of violence has left a family shattered and a community grieving.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe mourn the loss of a beloved officer. There are no words that can ease the pain of such an unimaginable loss to his wife, who is expecting their child, and loved ones. His child will grow up knowing that their father was a hero who served his community with courage and honor.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe and his family, including his brothers and sisters in law enforcement, are in our prayers. I also extend my gratitude and support to the men and women of law enforcement who continue to put their lives on the line each day. We stand with you during this difficult time.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMay we honor his memory by coming together as a community and supporting those he left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Kern County Sheriffs Office will conduct its own use-of-force investigation following an incident in Porterville where an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,723,734,116845,9725,16220],"class_list":{"0":"post-267912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-law-enforcement","13":"tag-lenco-bearcat","14":"tag-swat","15":"tag-violence"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}