let us all be careful about how we react to dumb drivers out there. keep your cool and get to you where you are trying to get to. you can get more about this in other websites.
Off-duty SDPD officer identified in alleged road rage shooting : North County Times - Californian
pOff-duty SDPD officer identified in alleged road rage shooting
By: COLLEEN MENSCHING - Staff Writer
Sequence of events still unclear | Monday, March 17, 2008 11:07 PM PDT ∞
219 comment(s) Increase Font Decrease Font email this story print this story OCEANSIDE -- Police weren't saying much Monday about a suspected road rage incident Saturday night in which an off-duty San Diego police officer shot and wounded a Camp Pendleton woman and her 8-year-old son.
The off-duty officer, Franklin "Frank" White of Oceanside, fired an undisclosed number of shots during the incident, which happened at about 9:30 p.m. in a shopping center parking lot off Old Grove Road, said Oceanside police Sgt. Kelan Poorman.
The woman and child remained hospitalized Monday, but authorities said their injuries were not life threatening.
White is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the Oceanside Police Department's criminal investigation and an internal review by the San Diego Police Department, Chief William Lansdowne said Monday. White has worked for the San Diego Police Department since October 2005.
Poorman said the incident apparently began when one car cut off another car in traffic. He said one driver followed the other driver to the parking lot of the Lowe's Home Improvement store on Old Grove Road, where the shooting took place. He declined to say which car White was driving.
The other driver, a white female in her 20's, was not armed, according to Poorman. Parties from both cars called police, he said.
Poorman said he did not know whether White -- who was accompanied by his wife at the time of the incident --- was inside or outside of his car during the shooting, or whether White acted in self-defense.
"I think that's probably why the shots were fired, but I'd be speculating," Poorman said.
The injured woman is married to a Marine and lives on Camp Pendleton, Poorman said. She was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, where she is still a patient.
As of Monday afternoon, she had not been interviewed, but investigators did speak with her son at Rady Children's Hospital, Poorman said.
He said Oceanside investigators are still trying to obtain surveillance video from businesses in the area
White was not in a police vehicle at the time of the incident, Poorman said.
State and federal laws give off-duty police officers the right to carry a weapon.
A countywide policy adopted in May 2007 addresses when and how off-duty officers may intervene when they observe a law being broken, said San Diego Police Department spokeswoman Monica Munoz.
The policy states that law enforcement officers retain "full power and authority" to perform policing duties when not on duty, including carrying a weapon.
Munoz said she could not comment on whether San Diego police official believe White fired his gun in a police capacity because they are not conducting the investigation into the incident.
-- Contact staff writer Colleen Mensching at (760) 739-6675 or
cmensching@nctimes.com.
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