Accused Cop Killer Expected To Be Charged Today

A career criminal is expected to be charged today in the ambush and fatal shooting of a Riverside police officer in a park.

Earl Ellis Green, 44, was arrested last Tuesday night on suspicion of murder and parole violations in connection with the Nov. 7, shooting death of Officer Ryan P. Bonaminio.

A fingerprint that was lifted from the stolen big rig that triggered the confrontation resulting in Bonaminio’s death belonged to Green, according to Riverside police Detective Ron Sanfilippo.

The print was processed and a possible match was found Tuesday afternoon on a national crime information database.

Investigators located Green and arrested him and his girlfriend outside a Target store in the 3300 block of Arlington Avenue about 8 p.m. Tuesday. The woman was released after being questioned.

While executing three search warrants at locations around Riverside County, detectives found Bonaminio’s police-issued sidearm, Sanfilippo said.

The officer’s gun may have been used against him, the detective said.

Three shots were fired from the pistol, according to Police Chief Sergio Diaz.

Investigators have not disclosed how many times Bonaminio was shot.

“I do believe he was ambushed,” Diaz said.

Court records show that Green has more than a dozen convictions, including for battery on a police officer in 1990.

His latest conviction, in 2007, was for vandalism, and he was sentenced to three years in prison. He could have faced even more time, but the judge dismissed several of his prior convictions.

Green was not a three-striker. State law requires that a strike be counted only when a person is convicted of a violent or serious felony.

The 27-year-old patrolman was trying to catch a suspect driving a big rig that had been involved in a fender-bender in the area of Market Street and the Moreno Valley (60) Freeway about 9:50 p.m. Nov. 7.

Bonaminio apparently had no idea the rig had been stolen minutes earlier from a Rubidoux rental facility and chased the truck thief when the man stopped at the entrance to Fairmount Park and bolted on foot, according to investigators.

A portion of the action was captured on the patrol vehicle’s dash camera. The video did not reveal what happened in the park — which was witnessed by at least one person — but showed a slender black man about 6 feet tall, wearing dark clothes and a baseball cap, returning to the truck and driving away.

The vehicle was returned to the business from which it was stolen.

Bonaminio was pronounced dead less than 30 minutes later at Riverside Community Hospital.

Bonaminio, a U.S. Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq with a military police unit, was the first Riverside police officer to be killed in the line of duty since January 2001.

The Riverside native joined the police force in 2006 while still in the Army reserves.

A funeral service for Bonaminio is planned for 10 a.m. Tuesday at Grove Community Church, 19900 Grove Community Drive. He will be laid to rest at Riverside National Cemetery, 22495 Van Buren Blvd.