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BOARD: DETECTIVE’S ACTIONS
IN COMPLIANCE WITH POLICIES
IN VIOLENT FIGHT, COP LEFT NO ALTERNATIVE BUT TO USE DEADLY FORCE
A Clearwater
Police Department Detective working an “extra-duty” job outside
a Clearwater nightclub came within a moment and a millimeter of
being hit in the face by a bullet fired at him from point-blank
range, a department Shooting Review Board found Thursday.
The Detective
survived the murder attempt and returned fire; his assailant was
killed during the exchange.
Detective
Steven Corrao, a 7-year veteran of the Clearwater Police Department,
struggled violently with the assailant after the shot was fired
from a chromed, Jennings .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun, later
determined to be stolen during a Lee County (FL) burglary in 1999.
And when the man tried to once again point the gun at the uniformed
Police Officer, the Detective fired four shots, felling the man
in a parking lot to the rear of the Drew Street bar.
From a face-down
position on the ground, the man attempted to rise and point the
gun yet again at Detective Corrao, who fired two more shots from
his department-issued Walther P990 .40-caliber handgun. The man
collapsed, his gun still clutched in his hand, his finger still
on the trigger. He was pronounced dead minutes later, culminating
a night that saw him involved in several other instances of crime
and violence.
An autopsy
revealed that the assailant - Guillermo Nicolas-Rafael (06-25-83),
of 24479 U.S. Highway 19 North, Lot 316 - died of the bullet wounds.
The Pinellas-Pasco Medical examiner’s autopsy indicated he had a
blood-alcohol level between .188 and .207. A BAC of .08 is the level
at which a person is presumed intoxicated under Florida law. The
autopsy also indicated the presence of cocaine in Nicolas-Rafael’s
urine.
Detective
Corrao, who was placed on paid administrative leave in accordance
with department policies immediately after the March 12th event,
has returned to his assignment as a Detective in the Criminal Investigations
Division.
The Shooting
Board, comprised of the department’s Command Staff and detectives
from the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) and the Office of
Professional Standards (Internal Affairs), examined the findings
of two independent investigations: CID investigators looked into
the legality of the shooting, and Internal Affairs investigators
examined Detective Corrao’s actions to see if they complied with
department Policies and Procedures.
Both investigations
concluded that Detective Corrao’s actions were in accordance with
state and department guidelines; that the Officer found himself
in imminent danger; and that the shooting was justifiable.
The Pinellas-Pasco
State Attorney’s Office, which conducted its own independent investigation
of the event, ruled that Detective Corrao was justified in using
Deadly Force in the pre-dawn encounter (see attached letter).
According
to the Shooting Review Board’s findings:
Guillermo
Nicolas-Rafael, a self-employed construction worker, spent most
of the hours of Saturday night (March 11th) with a girlfriend.
At 11:40
that Saturday night, Nicolas-Rafael - driving a white Mercury Grand
Marquis - was involved in a “road rage” incident on U.S. Highway
19 in which he cut off a car in traffic, exchanged words with that
car’s driver, and then intentionally ran into that car twice (CPD
Report 06-6262, Aggravated Battery With a Motor Vehicle, attached).
After the intentional ramming, he disappeared into the night.
A Clearwater
Police District III Patrol Officer was sent to investigate the incident,
and some time later, a BOLO (Be On the LookOut) - including a description
of the assailant’s white car with green paint transfer marks from
the collisions and a missing license plate - was radioed to all
other Clearwater Police Officers; Detective Corrao, patrolling on
foot the area of Jose’s, heard the BOLO.
At 12: 30
Sunday morning (now March 12th), Nicolas-Rafael went to Jose’s Mexican
Restaurant at 2097 Drew Street, where he met with 14-year-old Uriel
Baltazar, an acquaintance. Thirty minutes later, Nicolas-Rafael
attempted a Strong-Arm Robbery in the parking lot of Jose’s, a crime
witnessed by Baltazar. The teenager told Investigators Nicolas-Rafael
tried to rob a man in a green van - even punching the driver - but
the man evaded Nicolas-Rafael. Some minutes later the man told Detective
Corrao, who was patrolling the strip center’s parking lot, he didn’t
want to prosecute; he left without filing a report.
Shortly
thereafter, at 1:17 a.m., Nicolas-Rafael, Baltazar and 17-year-old
Pedro Pena-Mejay, were all occupying the white Mercury Grand Marquis
when $5 of gasoline was purchased at the 7-Eleven store, 1727 Drew
Street, about a mile from Jose’s. Pena-Mejay had been inside Jose’s
shortly before, where he got into an altercation with another man;
Pena-Mejay was kicked out of the bar. The 14-year-old Baltazar had
also been inside Jose’s.
Pena-Mejay
later told Investigators he had never met Nicolas-Rafael before
that Sunday morning. When they left the 7-Eleven, Baltazar - the
14-year-old - was driving, Pena-Mejay was in the front passenger
seat, Nicolas-Rafael was sitting alone in the back seat.
As the trio
drove the short distance to Jose’s, Nicolas-Rafael displayed a handgun
and told the teenagers it’s used “to make money.” The teenagers
told Investigators that as Baltazar drove the car into the rear
parking lot of the strip center where Jose’s is located, Nicolas-Rafael
donned a hat or a mask and leather gloves; it was believed he was
going to confront the person with whom Pena-Mejay had had the dispute
before being evicted from the bar.
It was at
this time that Detective Corrao saw the white Grand Marquis pull
into the rear parking lot; he radioed his Dispatcher that he was
approaching a car that matched the description of the one BOLOed
earlier, and asked for more particulars about the suspect car.
As Detective
Corrao approached the car, it moved toward him, and he noticed there
were three occupants, all of them making furtive movements.
Detective
Corrao ordered the driver to stop; the driver complied. Detective
Corrao radioed for additional back-up Officers; he saw damage to
the front of the car; he moved to look at the back of the car, where
he saw the license plate was missing.
As he took
up a position outside the driver’s door, Detective Corrao told the
driver to turn off the car’s motor; the driver complied. As the
three occupants spoke to each other in Spanish, Detective Corrao
saw that the lone occupant in the back seat had a gun. The Police
Officer ordered the man to “Let me see your hands! Let me see your
hands!” The two teens later told Investigators that Nicolas-Rafael
told the 14-year-old to “Drive off!” and “Run over the cop!”
As Detective
Corrao continued shouting commands at the trio (“Keep your hands
high! Keep your hands up!”), he radioed his Dispatcher that he was
out with an armed subject, and asked that responding back-up units
expedite their arrival.
As the car’s
occupants continued to speak - sometimes in English, mostly in Spanish
- Detective Corrao opened the rear driver’s side door, saw that
Nicolas-Rafael had the gun clutched at his waist; the Police Officer
reached in and yanked the armed man out of the car, ordering him
to “Get down! Stay down!!” after the man fell to the parking lot
pavement.
Nicolas-Rafael,
having risen to his knees with his back to the Detective, had the
chromed handgun in his right hand, pointed backward over his shoulder
at the Police Officer. Detective Corrao, also armed with a handgun
in his right hand, tried to knock away Nicolas-Rafael’s gun, which
was pointed at the Detective’s face.
By this
time, the men were engaged in a grappling confrontation; as Nicolas-Rafael
used his left hand to try and grab Detective Corrao’s gun, he fired
a round from his gun, narrowly missing the Detective’s head.
Detective
Corrao was able to disengage from the violent embrace, and fired
four rounds from his department-issued sidearm. Nicolas-Rafael fell
to the ground. But with the Detective shouting at him to “Drop the
gun! Drop the gun!” the man raised his head and began to raise his
gun again, at which time Detective Corrao fired two more shots.
Moments
later, back-up Officers arrived, and Clearwater Fire Department
paramedics pronounced Nicolas-Rafael dead at the scene.
During their
post-event investigations, Investigators established that Nicolas-Rafael
was driving the white Mercury Grand Marquis when it was involved
in the U.S. Highway 19 Aggravated Battery with a Motor Vehicle;
established that Nicolas-Rafael - armed with a handgun - was a rear-seat
passenger in that same white Mercury when it pulled into the rear
parking lot of Jose’s; and established that Nicolas-Rafael committed
an attempted Strong-Armed Robbery in the parking lot of Jose’s.
The Clearwater
Police Department Command Staff, after reviewing statements from
various civilian witnesses; examining evidence and findings by the
Pinellas County Medical Examiner’s Office; and discussing the separate
investigations by CID and Internal Affairs detectives, ruled that
Detective Corrao acted in accordance with all department guidelines,
and that the shooting was a justifiable act on the part of a state-certified
law enforcement officer who was fighting to survive a violent encounter.
This is
the extent of information available regarding the findings of this
Shooting Review Board. For additional details, please contact Clearwater
Police Public Information Officer Wayne Shelor at (727)-562-4333.
/s/
SID KLEIN
Chief of
Police
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