The Orange County Sheriff’s Department Wednesday released video of the fatal shooting of a transient in San Clemente during a struggle with deputies.
The Sept. 23 fatal shooting of 42-year-old Kurt Andras Reinhold touched off protests and prompted Reinhold’s family to file a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the county in December.
The two deputies involved in the deadly shooting were assigned to the department’s homeless liaison detail in San Clemente.
In the “critical incident video,” the sheriff’s department said the liaison officers are tasked with helping the area homeless population to “provide them with access to available resources and services, while protecting the quality of life for the citizens of Orange County through proactive enforcement.”
In the video, the deputies are seen taking a joking attitude as they first spot Reinhold near the Hotel Miramar at El Camino Real and Avenida San Gabriel.
“Okie doke, he’s seen ya’, he’s seen ya’, coppa,” one of the deputies joked.
“Watch this, he’s going to jaywalk,” one of the deputies said.
Then it appears there’s a discussion among the two whether Reinhold is jaywalking.
“Don’t make case law,” one of the deputies said as they pulled up to the suspect.
“It’s not case law,” the other said.
When they get out of the patrol car they approach Reinhold and one deputy said, “What’s going on, man? How are you doing?”
When Reinhold gets into an argument with the deputies about why they are questioning him and attempts to walk away, one of the deputies said, “Hey, hey, you need to stop… Are you going to stop or are we going to have to make you stop?”
Reinhold replied, “For what? For what?”
“Jaywalking,” one of the deputies responded.
When the deputies attempt to put their hands on him, Reinhold resisted and said, “Get off, get off, get off.”
When the deputies order Reinhold to stop, he asked, “For what?”
“Because I’m telling you to,” one of the deputies said. “Get on the sidewalk.”
Reinhold repeatedly said, “Stop touching me” and pushes the hands of the deputies away.
Reinhold also said, “Do you see yourself?” a couple of times.
Reinhold also said it was “ridiculous” that they were accusing him of jaywalking.
One video just offers only audio as the patrol car’s dashboard camera is facing away from the incident. Another video is from a cellphone of a bystander, and a third video comes from a surveillance camera from the motel.
“The man is refusing to obey the deputies’ commands to stop and go back to the sidewalk and is actively resisting the attempts to detain him,” Orange County sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis Breckner said on the video.
The video shows the deputies eventually tackling Reinhold and struggling with him.
“During the use of force on deputy is heard on the witness’ cellphone video saying, `He’s got my gun’ multiple times,” Breckner said.
The video shows a close-up of the struggle at one point and a red circle is drawn around the hand of Reinhold as it suggests he was attempting to grab the weapon of one of the deputies.
The deputies can also be seen attempting to revive Reinhold with CPR before ambulances arrive.
John Taylor, an attorney representing the Reinhold family in the wrongful death lawsuit, said the “homeless liaison officers don’t appear to be assisting a homeless person in this case.”
Taylor told City News Service the videos “demonstrates to us that the officers create the confrontation or interaction and then escalate it to the point of using deadly force.”
Taylor said the dash cam video indicates Reinhold was actually crossing at a controlled intersection with the light when the deputies approached him.
“One officer said he’s in a controlled intersection and the other says, no, it’s not controlled,” Taylor said. “Then they pull a U-turn and come back.”
Reinhold was standing on the corner when the deputies pulled up and then he started to walk away from them, Taylor said.
“It’s a textbook escalation of a situation by the officers,” Taylor said. “The officers put their hands on Mr. Reinhold for no reason. They take him to the ground for no reason. What is the reason they’re controlling him?
“The homeless liaison officers use that pretext to stop anybody they want to for any reason they want in order to just harass them, target them. If this man’s white, does this ever happen? Does this stop ever happen?”
If anything, Reinhold was guilty of an “infraction, and they issue him a ticket,” Taylor said.
“They are not responding to a call. He is not stopping or impeding traffic,” Taylor said.
Reinhold had just left a liquor store where he bought an iced tea to drink before the confrontation, Taylor said.
Reinhold had been diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder at some point, another of his attorneys, Neil Gehlawat, said in December.
Reinhold was known by the merchants and residents in the area and, “No one had a single bad thing to say about him,” Gehlawat said in December.
Reinhold was not “disruptive or abrasive in any way” at the liquor store before the shooting, Gehlawat said.