SAN DIEGO (CN) — An attorney for a detective wounded in an officer-involved shooting argued in federal court on Thursday that fellow officers endangered him and others when they opened fire on a suspect.
National City Police Department Detective Rowdy Pauu accuses San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies David Lovejoy and Jonathon Young of excessive force when they fired at a suspect, Erik Talavera, 17 times. Talavera, who was hit 16 times, survived and is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. The deputies maintain that they have qualified immunity against the plaintiffs’ claims.
Pauu, who was working as a plainclothes detective in an unmarked police vehicle, was pursuing Talavera in the city of El Cajon, California, on Feb. 16, 2022, as part of a task force investigating car thefts in San Diego County, he says in his complaint. After surrounding Talavera in a cul-de-sac, Lovejoy and Young arrived about 50 feet from Talavera’s car and opened fire without warning or coordination, according to Pauu…