The District Attorney's Office seldom files criminal charges against law enforcement officers involved in shootings. Of the several hundred shootings since 1980, five officers have been charged:
1995: San Diego police Officer Christopher Chaney was charged with assault with a deadly weapon for shooting a man in the arm after a chase while on duty. A jury acquitted Chaney a year later, and he returned to patrol duty.
1983: Escondido police Officer David DeLange was charged with involuntary manslaughter after fatally shooting a woman who was being held hostage by a bank robber. A jury acquitted him a year later, and he was awarded disability retirement. The victim's family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against DeLange and settled for an undisclosed amount of money.
1982: San Diego police Officer Frank Dennis Smith was charged with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon after firing at a carload of teenagers while off duty. The teens had thrown an empty plastic cup at his Datsun, and he followed them for 13 miles trying to pull them over. Smith was fired from the police force, and in 1984 he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge after two previous trials ended in hung juries. He was ordered to perform 100 hours' community service for his favorite charity and prohibited from carrying a firearm.
1981: Sheriff's Deputies Charles Bailey and Alan Wittig were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and firing at an occupied vehicle after a disturbance outside a taco shop in Hillcrest. The deputies were off duty when they fired 11 shots into a car, hitting a man in the arm. The 4th District Court of Appeal upheld their convictions, and they were sentenced to 90 days each at the county's Work Furlough Center.
