Palm Springs police: Marine shooting was 'reasonable'

The Palm Springs Police Department has argued in federal court that a police officer who dove into the open window of a fleeing car, then fatally shot a drunk driver at point-blank range, acted "reasonably."

New court documents also show that the officer has changed his explanation for why he leaped into the car in the first place.

These arguments were filed this week in response to a lawsuit from the family of Cpl. Allan DeVillena, a 22-year-old High Desert Marine who was killed by Palm Springs police on Nov. 10, 2012. DeVillena, who was drunk, was shot six times as he attempted to drive away from two bicycle cops, Mike Heron and Chad Nordman, on the bottom floor of the downtown public parking garage.

The confrontation escalated dangerously when Nordman attempted to stop DeVillena's Chrysler by jumping through the passenger-side window with his gun drawn, leaving his legs dangling outside the car. Heron did not see Nordman leap through the window, so he assumed his partner had been pulled into the vehicle and was under attack, according to statements he made to law enforcement. Heron opened fire on the Chrysler to save Nordman, then Nordman shot DeVillena in the torso to save himself.

Graphic: Shooting explained step-by-step

The Police Department argues that it was appropriate for both officers to use deadly force because, if DeVillena had kept driving, Nordman's legs would have been crushed against the concrete pillars at the exit of the parking garage.

"Under the rapidly evolving events confronted by the officers, their fear that DeVillena would hit and hurt or kill someone was objectively reasonable," wrote Lois Bobak, an attorney for the Police Department, in court documents.

These Police Department arguments come from a motion for summary judgment, filed Monday, that asks a judge to dismiss the DeVillena family's lawsuit without the need for a trial. Much of of the motion focuses on the "reasonableness" of the officer's actions because police are generally immune to use-of-force lawsuits if their decisions are considered reasonable in the spur-of-the-moment.

In this case, the Palm Springs Police Department has said Nordman and Heron were forced to make a split-second decision in a life-and-death scenario, but experts have said that Nordman created the danger in the first place.

During prior interviews with The Desert Sun, three law enforcement experts said the DeVillena shooting was an extreme example of "officer-created jeopardy." When Nordman dove into a fleeing car, he endangered himself, prompting his partner to use deadly force to protect him, the experts said.

"It's a horrible situation the police officer is in because I'm sure he wants to stop this guy from driving away drunk, but unfortunately diving in the car makes the situation worse," said Geoffrey Alpert, a deadly force expert at the University of South Carolina. "At the time the officer pulled the trigger, he may have had a reasonable fear for his life, but with that said, it was his actions that created the jeopardy."

Nordman and Heron have been cleared of all criminal culpability by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. The court documents filed Monday revealed for the first time that the officers were also cleared by an internal investigation conducted by the Palm Springs Police Department.

Both officers have declined to talk to The Desert Sun about the DeVillena shooting.

Pivotal moment, shifting story

The new court documents show that Nordman has shifted his explanation for why he jumped into DeVillena's fleeing vehicle.

"I entered the front passenger window both to stop Mr. DeVillena from driving and to avoid being hit by the car as it turned upon me," Nordman said in a court declaration, filed Monday.

The second part of that statement is new.

In two prior interviews with investigators, Nordman has said repeatedly that he jumped into DeVillena's Chrysler to stop the car. He never said that he jumped through the window to avoid being hit by the car.

"Why'd you jump in that window?" an investigator asked Nordman after the shooting, according to an interview transcript obtained by The Desert Sun.

"Make the driver stop the car," Nordman responded. "He didn't seem like he was gonna ... taking me seriously enough, me being outside the car and telling him to stop, so I figured I'd get inside and make him stop."

Editors note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Nordman gave two prior interviews about the shooting, not three, as was initially reported.

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached by phone at (760) 778-4642, by email at brett.kelman@desertsun.com, or on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman.