Shooting @ Car

From the Santa Maria Times:


Bounty hunter shoots at car
By Luis Ernesto Gomez/Staff Writer

A Santa Maria bounty hunter's search for a fugitive led to a shooting in a restaurant parking lot at Broadway and Jones Street Monday night.

No one was wounded, police said, but shots hit a fleeing car and one went through the window of a nearby business and lodged inside.

Police say Sylvester Swain, 49, was hunting for Fidel Alonzo, 43, of Santa Maria - wanted for failing to appear in court - whom Swain believed to be in a car in the parking lot of El Taco de Mexico, 701 S. Broadway.

Alonzo's felony bench warrant was set at $40,000 on June 28, according to court records.

Lt. Kendall D. Greene of the Santa Maria Police Department said he didn't know whether Swain was licensed as a “bail fugitive recovery agent,” whether he had a permit to carry the gun, or whether he would be charged with a crime.

A decision on filing charges will be “up to the district attorney,” Greene said. Swain claims self defense, he added.

A relative said Tuesday that Swain did not want to speak to the media.

As Swain approached a parked 1994 Pontiac Grand Prix around 9:15 p.m., he called police as required by law, according to Greene.

Thinking Alonzo would be in the vehicle, Swain identified himself to the driver but the suspect was not inside, Greene said.

Carlos Perez, 40, of Santa Maria, who was at the wheel, allegedly sped off and tried to leave the parking lot, Greene said.

Swain fired his 9 mm handgun several times and hit the vehicle four times because, he told police, the car was moving toward him.

Neither the driver nor the three passengers - Frances Alonzo, 43; Carlos Alonzo, 16; and Byanca Torres, 17, all of Santa Maria - were injured, Greene said. It is unknown if anyone in the vehicle was associated with Fidel Alonzo.

Police gathered evidence at the shooting scene Tuesday and interviewed both Swain and the driver, Greene said. The investigation is continuing.

Swain continued to fire his gun as the Pontiac sped away east on Jones, turned left onto Broadway and drove over a concrete street median, breaking the front right wheel, police said.

The Pontiac eventually stopped about a block north of Jones, where police detained the driver for questioning, Greene said.

Several bullets were collected by investigators at the small street-side business complex where at least one bullet hit a business across Broadway from the restaurant.

Owners of Santa Maria Hair Design, 628 S. Broadway, said the business was closed when the shots were fired but the single bullet that made it inside shattered the store-front window and wedged into a bookshelf.

“I just came in and saw the piece of blinds on the floor,” Ray Duncan said in describing his discovery Tuesday morning as he entered the business through the back door.

“I was not expecting that.”

The salon was back in business Tuesday despite its closed blinds.

The 25-year-old business, which sits between a cell phone store and A & P Time Decor on a busy intersection near the railroad tracks, is no stranger to damage.

Jeannette Duncan said it usually happens on Mondays.

“We've had other things on our days off,” she said. “Like tires going through the door.”

Ray Duncan said the owner of the building will be looking to have Swain, or the agency who hired him, pay for the cost of the front window.

Richard Dunbar, who said he has been in the bail enforcement business for 26 years and owns Richard Dunbar and Associates in San Luis Obispo County, said he introduced Swain to the business five or six years ago.

“I'm appalled by his actions,” Dunbar said.

Dunbar said that bail enforcement agents must abide by individual state law and regulation, must be certified in police officer standards and training, and must have taken at least 12 hours of training in California law.

By law, if a bounty hunter believes he is in a dangerous situation, he must contact the police.

A Santa Maria native, Swain works as a construction worker and as a bounty hunter on the side, said his sister, Doris Swain.

Monday's incident shocked her, she added.

“It was a real surprise, but ... I was happy no one was injured.”

Swain did not want to comment, his sister said in a phone interview.

Luis Ernesto Gomez can be reached at 739-2218, or lgomez@santamariatimes.com. Staff writer Samantha Yale contributed to this story.

"Swain continued to fire his gun as the Pontiac sped away"

If the above is true then he will likely be charged with numerous crimes.

_________________
Chuck

Say goodbye to his credibility that the initial shots were because the car was coming at him. I was already wondering where was he standing when he questioned the driver, ascertained the skip was not in the vehicle, and noticed the vehicle was coming ::at:: him-requiring shots in self-defense.

We all make mistakes, and I was not in the situation described. But firing "as the Pontiac sped away" , and ::after:: determinig that the target was not in the vehicle, hmmm....

_________________
William Baldwin,BS,MD-S
MBA HCM program
Ground below Zero
New Orleans, La.

I've reviewed enough Officer Involved Shootings to know that the media seldom gets it right. I have no idea if the facts fit the story and neither does anyone else except those involved. Let LE investigate it and then we will know whether or not this guy should be jailed for his actions or exonerated of any wrong doing.

Police still investigating bounty hunter incident
By Luis Ernesto Gomez/Staff Writer


Police Thursday said no action has been taken against a bounty hunter who claimed he was acting in self-defense earlier this week when he shot several times at a moving car while trying to capture a suspected fugitive.

The actions of Sylvester Swain, 49, during the Monday night incident in which several businesses were struck by bullets, have been questioned by Santa Maria Police investigators and other bail agents.


As of Thursday afternoon, police had not referred the case to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office to determine if anyone violated the law, according to police officials.

Police have said Swain was looking for Fidel Alonso, 43, of Santa Maria, and had allegedly gathered information that led him to the parking lot outside the El Taco de Mexico restaurant, 701 S. Broadway, around 9:15 p.m.

Alonso, who is accused of failing to appear in court, was wanted on a $40,000 felony bench warrant as of June 28, according to court records.

Swain told police he approached Carlos Perez, 40, of Santa Maria, the driver of a 1994 Pontiac Grand Prix, and identified himself.

Alonso was not in the car, according to police.

Perez allegedly tried to drive away from the parking lot, and Swain fired multiple shots from a 9-mm handgun, hitting the car four times, police said.

Swain told police he shot in self-defense because the car was moving toward him.

Swain continued to fire as the Pontiac drove east on Jones and turned north on Broadway, driving over a cement center divider and breaking the front right wheel, police said.

Bullets hit several businesses, including one that shattered a large front-side window on the northeast corner of Broadway.

Neither the driver nor the passengers - Maria Gonzalez, 44, Esperanza Sanchez, 21, and Anthony Aguilera, 41, all of Santa Maria - were injured, said Lt. Kendall D. Greene.

Police Tuesday misidentified Frances Alonso, 43; Carlos Alonso, 16; and Byanca Torres, 17, all of Santa Maria, as the passengers in the Pontiac. They actually were witnesses to the shooting, Greene said.

THE MAN BEHIND THE TRIGGER

Relatives said Swain started his side job as a bounty hunter about six years ago.

He is a family man who yearned to become a police officer, but ended up working in construction, according to his sister Doris Swain.

As of Thursday, Swain continued to decline comment on the shooting incident.

According to California law, a fugitive-recovery agent must comply with Penal Code 1299, which explains what procedures the agent must follow, including contact with a law-enforcement agency six hours prior to making an apprehension.

Swain reportedly contacted the police before approaching the vehicle, but Greene said he did not know when he did so.

However, there is no agency in the state that issues a fugitive-recovery agent license, according to experts.

If a fugitive-recovery agent is in the process of capturing a wanted suspect, the agent must have at least a valid security-guard card or a fugitive-recovery agent license issued in another state.

A search with the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services - the agency that issues security guard cards - turned up no one under the name of Sylvester Swain.

A search with the California Department of Insurance, which issues bail agents a license, also did not turn up anyone with his name.

Also, if a recovery agent is hired by a bail-bond agency - a source said Swain was hired by an agency out of Nipomo - the agent must comply with individual state laws, must not be a convicted felon, must be certified in police officer standards and training, and must have taken at least 12 hours in California bail law.

Santa Maria police Det. Terry Flaa said his department's investigation is continuing, and it has not been determine if Swain was in compliance with applicable regulations. That will be up to the district attorney to decide, he added.

Flaa declined to say if Swain had a license for the gun, or if he had documents or clothing that identified him as a fugitive-recovery agent as required by law.

When asked why Swain wasn't arrested, Flaa said a person like Swain would normally be arrested only if investigators believed he was a threat to the community.

Greene said Thursday that the department had no records of issuing a gun permit to Swain.

Officials from the California Bail Agents Association learned of the Santa Maria shooting and were taken aback by the police response.

“If he had shot his pistol with that kind of disregard, he should have been arrested,” said Maggie Kreins, president of the California Bail Agents Association.

Even with a guard card, the bounty hunter must carry the gun exposed, said Kreins, a Long Beach bail agent of 20 years.

Although it's up to police investigators to determine if he used the gun in an illegal way, Kreins said she is surprised the police did not arrest him or hold him for more questioning.

“Had he been outside Santa Maria, elsewhere, he could have been arrested,” she said.

Luis Ernesto Gomez can be reached at 739-2218, or lgomez@

santamariatimes.com. Staff writer Samantha Yale

contributed to this story.

Nov. 17, 2006

_________________


Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

I agree completely. I question where the guy was standing when he determined his skip wasn't in the car, and it was coming at him. But I wasn't there, (as I stated) my info is third hand, and worse, from a newspaper. I therefore do not understand why t;he guy from the bail assoc sounds disappointed that the FRA was not arrested.

I can understand his actions reflect on all agents, and all that, but like baildoc says, let LE do the investigation first, *Then* hang 'em.

_________________
William Baldwin,BS,MD-S
MBA HCM program
Ground below Zero
New Orleans, La.

First, while I am a member of the California Bail Agents Association, I have no authority to speak on their behalf. With that said, I believe what Maggie Kreins was saying was IF the newpaper article was acurate, then he should be arrested. Here in CA we have worked hard to insure that fugitive recovery persons are not seen as 'cowboys'. Everyone here that I have met who is conducting business legally, has always been very professional. In this situation it appears as though the individual involved MAY not have been acting legally. California is very stringent in the laws pertaiining to Bail Fugitive Recovery Persons and the required training (part of which is conducted by the bail agents association).

But, as others have said, let's wait and find out what really happened!

_________________
Randall Crew
Randall Crew & Associates
641-289-0136

Whatever the outcome of this individual case is, it will give more ammo to the already hostile and anti bail / bail recovery / anti gun group in the CA government.

There were 3 big errors in the news report on this incident. The first is that CA BFRP DO NOT have to obtain a security guard card. They only have to complete the course and carry proof of that. That is why if he did complete the course, there no record of him obtaining a security guard card. Same is true for having a bail agents license. There is no requirement to do so, only to take and complete the course.

Number 2, the CA BFRP only has to complete the first section of the CA Post Certification. Therefore, a CA BFRP is NOT Post Certified.

The 3rd error is that there is NO requirement the CA BFRP has to wear any type of clothing that identifies them as a recovery agent. In fact the law states that we can not wear anything that might lead a person to think that a CA BFRP is a law enforcement official.

So yes there are many errors in the report. But most of them were made by the police not understanding the law!

We had a similar incident with an agent we were working with, only in our case, the fugitive WAS in the vehicle, and it was being driven by his girlfriend. The fugitive was yelling at her to "run over" the BEA, and the BEA was trapped in a very close area. The agent fired one shot at the tire to divert the vehicle. My hubby was hanging on the side of the suspect vehicle, also trying to divert it, until he had to let go or get crushed between it and the one we had tried to stop them in.

With the shot fired at the tire, the fugitive's girlfriend swerved away from the BEA, and knocked down a fence instead of running him down. There was a subsequent "collision" in which our CI's car was totalled, and both occupants of the fugitive's vehicle were injured enough that they finally stopped and gave up. The PD told us we should have shot the driver, but the SO (hotshot idiot) kept us in interrogation most of the night. There were all kinds of investigations and threats against all of us, even though everyone agreed that only the one BEA pointed his weapon, and it was the only one fired, and that in self-defense. When we took the suspect to the city PD, he suddenly (and later the GF when the SO picked her up) had injuries from the collision with the CI's car (that happened out of our site, and all evidence was destroyed by the CI), but he had to be taken to the hospital, where the SO finally showed up. The officer tried to get me with a concealed weapon violation (it was under the seat in the van owned by the bond agent) and was really mad when I pointed out that I complied with state laws. The BEA finally won his self defense argument, but it took me over a week and an threatened court order to get my weapon back (which had not been fired) and about six months for him to get his back and the charges dropped. The irony of the confiscation of my weapon was that I had just gotten it, and it had never, ever been fired. The idiot investigator kept saying that they couldn't verify this, but the evidence person did when I got it back. I told the investigator that I hadn't even had a chance to take it out, and that if they fired it, that I would be very upset, since I felt that I should get to fire it first. Needless to say I took it out for a "test" run as soon as I got it back.

FYI, I like my .38 special, but I have learned that a revolver is not a good weapon in our business. Mine is a short barrel, and it has no "distance" accuracy. Also, the "six-shooter" is no match for an automatic. A speed-loader with six-shots is no comparison for an extra clip with (depending on the weapon, up to 15 or more). I "knew" all of this, but it was really brought home when I did my advanced self-defense class for my CCW certification. No matter that I load with jacketed hollow points, if I'm not at a short range, and very accurate, I am dead in a shoot-out.

Every state has it's own laws regarding BE and weapons.

_________________
Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club

I think that you might be shortsighting the merits of the humble revolver Kathy. Each platform has it's merits, and I think you are well armed with your wheelgun. Jim Cirillo, a modern day gunfighter and firearms instructor survived many armed conflicts with a revolver. I guess the point is that it is more the operator than the system when the SHTF.