SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) - Prosecutors say the police shooting of an unarmed homeless man in San Bernardino was justified.
A district attorney’s report Thursday says Officer Dominick Martinez feared for his safety when he shot 34-year-old Joe Ortiz in 2015.
Martinez and another officer had answered a 911 call by a girl at a park. She identified two men she claimed had threatened to kill her father with a gun.
The report says Martinez tried to stop a man who fled on a bicycle into an alley, where his patrol car bumped the bike and the man fell to the ground.
The report says Martinez thought the man was reaching for a gun and shot him.
No gun was found.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.