RSO Deputy

[UH60RAT]

Yesterday at work, our dispatch sent out an MDC message about an 11-99 for an RSO Deputy in the Elsinore area. The message mentioned shots fired and the deputy being run over by an RV. They sent out another message later, saying the deputy had been transported to the hospital via ambulance (code 2). I checked the news last night and didn't see anything about it.

I asked at roll-call this morning and nobody had heard anything further on the incident. I just got done searching the news sites again tonight and still haven't seen anything.

Does anyone have any info on this?

[exComptonCop]

I just got done searching the news sites again tonight and still haven't seen anything.

Does anyone have any info on this?

Yes, I was there. This incident occurred INSIDE the walls of the People's Republic of Canyon Lake. Nothing gets in or out of Canyon Lake without the approval of the POA/City council...especially the media.

In a nutshell, a couple of RSO deps in an off road veh, are snooping and pooping near the river that feeds Canyon Lake. They run into a couple of boneheads, acting dumb, in some type of an off road vehicel(possibly a Rino) Deputy one, makes contact with the Rino driver, reaches in and attempts to turn off the ignition. Driver, grabs deputy's wrist, and drives offf with Deputy in tow. Deputy #2, caps an unknown amount of rounds at driver.

No one was struck during the shooting, and Deputy sustained minor injury to his ego. Crook was taken into custody.

During the four hour show, I counted about twenty marked units, fifteen unmarked plain units(detective type) two forensics vehicles, three marine patrol vessels, one k-9, numerous POV's, belonging to off duty brass, one citizen patrol SUV(IMO, the most important, since they brought the cold drinks, and one RSO bird, which landed on Vacation Dr, near the north causeway.

Took this while wake boarding...



Quite a show I must say

[IMachU]

Glad to hear the Deps are OK, and the suspect is in jail.

[UH60RAT]

Thanks Compton.......Ditto, what IMachU said.

Be safe

[SOCALCOP]

And now the mess begins...

By SARAH BURGE
The Press-Enterprise

Witnesses are disputing the Riverside County Sheriff's Department account of a Saturday run-in between deputies and off-road riders along the northern inlet to Canyon Lake that prompted one deputy to shoot at an off-road vehicle driver.

"I'm so appalled at what they're saying," said Nick Perdikis, 23, of Lake Elsinore, who had driven out to the area to ride a personal watercraft. He said he witnessed the confrontation from just a few feet away. "They got the story so twisted and wrong," he said. "I've never seen such recklessness with a gun. It was like, shoot now and worry about it later."

A sheriff's news release said two deputies tried to stop a Rhino -- a four-wheel off-road vehicle -- that was riding in a prohibited area north of Canyon Lake, but the driver fled.

The release said the deputies approached the vehicle when it got stuck in rough terrain, ordering the driver to get out. Instead, the release said, the driver accelerated, knocking a deputy to the ground and dragging him several feet. The release said the deputy's partner fired at the vehicle as it dragged the deputy, but the vehicle did not stop.

The initial release identified the 22-year-old driver, who was later located and arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, as William Mindey, but an updated release said his name is Billie Charles Mende.

Witnesses said Monday that there were about 30 people in the area riding personal watercraft and hanging out along the water's edge Saturday afternoon.

The Rhino had just pulled up when the commotion began. The deputies had been across the water waiting for the sheriff's dive team to arrive to inspect a Cadillac Escalade that had been found submerged in the water.

Spencer Meineke, 22, of Canyon Lake, whose twin brother was riding in the Rhino, said that Mende lives near Perris and works as a heavy-machinery operator.

Meineke acknowledged that earlier Mende had been driving on the other side of the water where off-roading is not allowed. The deputies had motioned Mende and some other off-roaders to come over to them, but were ignored, Meineke said.

Meineke and other witnesses said they believed the area where the shooting happened was federal land and that they had the right to be there.

Witnesses said the deputies got a ride to the other side on a sheriff's boat that patrols the lake, then approached Mende's Rhino with guns drawn.

When Mende saw them, Meineke said, "He was so scared he didn't know what to do. He just gassed it."

One of the deputies leapt at the Rhino and grabbed hold for a moment before falling to the ground, witnesses said.

"He jumped at it ... like he was all 'Braveheart,' " Perdikis said.

Kirk Lessley, 46, who was in the water on his personal watercraft, said it's "absolutely ridiculous" that the Sheriff's Department is accusing the driver of assault with a deadly weapon. "He did not get dragged. That was a complete farce," Lessley said. "The guy lost his balance. He fell over."

He also was not in harm's way when a second deputy opened fire, witnesses said, estimating that he fired nine to 11 shots.

According to witnesses, there were several other people standing near the deputy's line of fire.

"I thought he had just shot my brother," Meineke said. "I was flipping out." He said, "Why do you got to kill somebody over a ticket?"

"He shouldn't have run. That's for sure," Meineke said, but he said it was absurd that the deputy shot at them.

Meineke said his brother, who was thoroughly questioned but eventually released, is OK.

Perdikis and other witnesses said the deputies investigating the shooting held them for hours without giving them anything to drink and treated them like criminals.

Asked about the witnesses' accounts, department spokesman Tom Freeman declined to comment or answer further questions, citing the ongoing investigation.

Another witness, Mike Whiting, 21, of Canyon Lake, who knows the two people who were in the Rhino, said the deputy ripped a small hole in his pants but appeared to be fine afterward.

The news release, however, said that the deputy suffered injuries to his left leg and arm and was treated at a hospital.

"He just jumped ... and tried to save the day," Whiting said. "But he didn't make it. And his buddy got all mad. That's how it went."

Reach Sarah Burge at 951-375-3736 or [email protected]

[IMachU]

"He was so scared he didn't know what to do. He just gassed it."

If the suspect thought he was on Federal land and OK to be there, what was there to be scared about? Why the panic? This story has so many holes in it it's ridiculous.

[exComptonCop]

This story has so many holes in it it's ridiculous.

You know the drill...today's witness, is tomorrow's suspect