Opening Arguments Begin In Murder Trial Of Riverside Police Officer
RIVERSIDE (CBS) — A Riverside police officer begged for his life just seconds before he was gunned down, allegedly by a truck thief he was pursuing, a witness testified today.
"The officer, very audibly, shouted, `Don't do it! Don't do it!"' recalled Stephen James McQueen, the only eyewitness to the slaying of 27-year-old Officer Ryan Patrick Bonaminio on Nov. 7, 2010.
Bonaminio was attempting to arrest a parolee, Earl Ellis Green, at the time of the shooting, according to prosecutors.
McQueen testified that he was relaxing by his car, having a cigarette, in the parking lot of the Center for Spiritual Living on Ridge Road, adjacent to Fairmount Park, when he suddenly heard a man yelling "Stop, stop, stop!"
"I looked over my right shoulder and saw a man coming up over the embankment to my right, and he proceeds across the parking lot," McQueen said, adding that about four or five seconds later, a young policeman ran by, obviously chasing the suspect.
"The officer yelled, `Let me see your hands! Let me see your hands!"' McQueen testified.
He said the suspect -- whom he never identified -- ran behind a stairwell on the east side of the Center for Spiritual Living, where the witness worked as a part-time groundskeeper. McQueen testified that Bonaminio ran toward the stairwell but slipped in a planter freshly watered and muddy.
"I saw (the suspect) come out from the stairwell a second later and swing something at the officer," McQueen told Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Mike Hestrin during questioning. "I guess it was a pipe. He swung it at the officer in three consecutive quick blows."
The groundskeeper said he could hear the impact of the pipe making contact with Bonaminio's face or head.
The assailant then backed four to five feet away from the injured officer, who struggled to his feet with his palms toward the man, begging him not to shoot.
According to McQueen, the attacker fired three shots, two of which struck Bonaminio in the face and head, causing him to collapse face-first in the flower bed.
According to prosecutors, Green jogged back to a yellow-colored semi truck with no trailer, which he had allegedly stolen earlier that Sunday evening, and drove it back to the Rubidoux facility from which he'd taken it.
Bonaminio was discovered by responding officers and rushed to Riverside Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Green is charged with first-degree murder and special circumstance allegations of killing a peace officer and committing a murder to avoid arrest, as well as charges of vehicle theft and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
The 46-year-old defendant was stopped by Bonaminio on suspicion of fleeing a hit-and run crash on Market Street, near the Pomona (60) Freeway, according to testimony.
According to the prosecution, Bonaminio was killed with his own .40-caliber Glock pistol.
Green, who has a rap sheet spanning more than two decades, was identified through a fingerprint match, leading to his arrest outside a Target store in Riverside two days later.
Search warrants served at his Rubidoux residence at 5161 34th St. and another property led to the recovery of Bonaminio's gun, according to prosecutors.
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