SANTA MARIA - Santa Maria Police say it's a key piece in the investigation that led to the decision to try and arrest Officer Albert Covarrubias early in the morning on January 29.
SMPD Chief Dan Macagni told the Santa Maria City Council details of a cell phone call that was monitored by investigators the night of the shooting between.
Macagni says the call was between Covarrubias and a 17 year old high school student he was alleged to have had an illegal sexual relationship with.
"He became very concerned and almost became threatening, telling her not to tell anyone, ordering her to blame it on someone else to protect him", Macagni told the City Council about the phone call involving Covarrubias and the teen girl, "he insisted that she not divulge that he was involved because he said ‘I'm not going to prison', because he knew that what he had done was absolutely wrong, he also made statements during that conversation, quite frankly he said 'if you tell I'll kill myself'".
Chief Macagni went on to tell the City Council that his officers had very little time in which to make a decision on how to arrest Officer Covarrubias opting to try to take him in at the corner of McElhanney and Broadway where he was shutting down a DUI checkpoint.
The attempted arrest ended in what Chief Macagni says was a scuffle in the street with Covarrubias firing his weapon and his best friend on the force, Officer Matt Kline, returning fire with a shot that ended up killing Covarrubias.
Chief Macagni says Officer Covarrubias knew he was under investigation for sexual misconduct and chose to resist arrest that ultimately led to his death.
The City of Santa Maria has hired an independent auditor to come in and review the policies, practices and codes of conduct within the Santa Maria Police Department similar to what it's done with law enforcement agencies in the Los Angeles area.
