Riverside County DA gets case of PSPD officer-involved shooting
The Riverside County D.A.’s Office is now deciding if an officer involved shooting in Palm Springs was justified.
On November 4th of last year, 26-year old Abraham Ortiz was shot and killed by police, while allegedly making threats near the Rite-Aid parking lot located in the 400 block of South Palm Canyon Drive.
According to Palm Springs Police Chief Bryan Reyes, his department received multiple 911 calls, that Ortiz was exposing himself, urinating, yelling racial and homophobic slurs and possibly having a weapon.
Once they got on scene they made contact with the suspect. “Two officers made contact with the subject, two uniformed officers. there was a struggle that went to the ground that resulted to an officer involved shooting,” says Reyes.
Ortiz later died at the hospital. A Palm Springs Officer also received minor injuries during the altercation.
According to John Hall, Spokesman for the D.A.’s Office, “we have received the case in this OIS.” They have “not yet met to make a decision.”
It is common procedure for an agency involved in an officer involved incident to have another department investigate the case. In this case, Palm Springs Police asked the Sheriff’s Department to oversee this shooting investigation.
Meanwhile, family members of Ortiz have hired an attorney who has filed a claim with the city stating the shooting of Ortiz was not justified.
We will continue to monitor developments in this case as they unfold.
Editor’s note: The headline has been updated from a previous version of this article.
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