SANTA MARIA - Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley says she and her staff will evaluate the Sheriff's Department findings but the final decision on the lawfulness of the shooting of Officer Covarrubias rests with her.
"That would depend on the totality of the circumstances", Dudley says, "what was in the mind of everybody at that scene at that time."
Dudley says she did not know about an internal Santa Maria Police Department investigation into Officer Covarrubias and his alleged sexual misconduct with a 17 year old girl.
"No one in the District Attorney's office had any involvement in how to effectuate the arrest or whether to arrest Officer Covarrubias", Dudley says, "that was a decision made by the Santa Maria Police Department.
It may be awhile before the Sheriff's Department completes its investigation of the deadly police officer shooting at the corner of McElhanney and Broadway last Saturday morning because the department is still investigating another deadly officer-involved shooting in front of a home near the corner of Thornburg and Agnes Way in early December.
24 year old alleged gang member Samyr Ceballos was killed in a hail of police bullets that also struck and injured some of the officers.
Several officers involved are on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the Sheriff's investigation.
I am prepared to meet with the Sheriff's Department at their earliest convenience", Dudley says, "so that we can get to the bottom of the first investigation and free them up to get on with the second investigation."
The Covarrubias family says the officer who fired the deadly shot at Albert Covarrubias was his best friend on the force, Officer Mathew Kline, who also is now on paid administrative leave.
"It doesn't change our evaluation process because the alleged perpetrator at that time is a law enforcement officer", Dudley says, "we still have to ask that basic question, was this lawful or was a crime committed."
Dudley says if she finds that no crime has been committed and the shooting was lawful it will be up to the Santa Maria Police Department and Chief Dan Macagni to decide if Officer Kline can return to duty.
The DA says she does not know if there is any video of the shooting last Saturday morning that was captured on so-called "dash-cams", cameras mounted on the dashboards of SMPD patrol cars.
Funeral services for Albert Covarrubias Jr. are tentatively scheduled for Monday, February 6.
