Newhall Shooting - A Tactical Analysis. Michael E. Wood
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Road and began to respond. Unit 78-19R also made a U-turn and proceeded northbound on San Fernando Road from Newhall to assist. (Refer again to Fig. 4.) Moments later, the responding units heard a transmission from Unit 78-12 saying that they were approaching the scene and would back up 78-8 with the stop—“We’re with them now.” Feeling that two units would be enough to cover the call, Units 78-16R and 78-19R both discontinued their response. Unit 78-16R made another U-turn near the intersection of Henry Mayo Drive and Boquet Canyon Road, and continued travel back in their original direction, southbound on San Fernando Road. Unit 78-19R continued northbound on San Fernando Road from Newhall, towards Unit 78-16R. (Fig. 5)
With Unit 78-12 one minute behind, the Pontiac turned northbound on The Old Road (the old, pre-freeway Highway 99) from Henry Mayo Drive and immediately into the driveway that led into the Standard Gas Station and the parking lot of J’s Coffee Shop. (Fig. 6) As they pulled into the driveway, Officer Frago trained the white spotlight on the passenger side of the patrol car onto the Pontiac.
Instead of pulling deep into the parking lot, Davis suddenly stopped the red Pontiac, just past the throat of the driveway and about 55 feet short of the gas pump island of the Standard Gas Station. This left Unit 78-8 stuck in the middle of the driveway, a little over one car length behind the Pontiac, with a low (approximately three- to four-foot deep) ditch to either side. (Fig. 7)
Officers Gore and Frago elected to proceed with the stop from this constrained position and made no attempt to direct the driver of the Pontiac to move the vehicle to another location in the parking lot. The time was just a few seconds before 23:55. As Officer Gore put the transmission of the 1969 Dodge Polara patrol vehicle into “Park,” Unit 78-12 was approaching the northbound Henry Mayo Drive exit, just a minute behind.
Davis and Twining were already proceeding with their plan.
CHAPTER 3
The Approach and Initial Shots Fired
When Davis brought the Pontiac to a stop, he did so in an area bathed with light from the gas station ahead and the restaurant parking lot to the right. With the additional light provided by the headlights of the CHP cruiser and the passenger side-mounted white spotlight, Officers Gore and Frago could clearly see that the vehicle contained two occupants, not the single occupant reported by the complainant, Tidwell. Davis was behind the wheel, and Twining was in the right front passenger seat of the Pontiac. They remained inside the vehicle. (Fig. 8)
The CHP Dodge was located at the five o’clock position from the Pontiac, approximately 15 to 20 feet behind—a little more than one car length away. The Dodge was angled away from the Pontiac towards the left, in a way that exposed the right side of the patrol car to anyone who exited the passenger side of the Pontiac. (Refer again to Fig. 8.)
The officers got out of their patrol car and took up initial positions with weapons drawn, as was standard procedure for a high risk or “hot” stop. Officer Gore exited the driver’s side, drew his six-inch Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver from his swivel holster, and pointed it at the vehicle from a “leaning” position across the left front fender and hood of the Dodge. Officer Frago, armed with the Remington 870 12-gauge shotgun from the patrol car’s Lektro-Lok rack, donned his hat and established a position just aft of the right front headlamp of the patrol car, in accordance with the tactics he had been taught for routine vehicle stops as a cadet less than a year and a half prior. (Fig. 9)
Officer Gore ordered the occupants out of the car with the command, “Get out with your hands up.” When neither Davis nor Twining complied with the command, he repeated it a second and third time before the driver, Davis, finally exited the vehicle. Witnesses reported that Gore had to order the noncompliant Davis an additional time to raise his hands, stating, “We told you to get your hands up.” Against directions, Twining remained in the car.
Officer Gore ordered Davis to spread his legs, place his hands on top of the Pontiac, and lean on the car. When Davis assumed the directed search position, Officer Gore advanced the short distance between them (about 10 to 15 feet) to search the suspect. (Fig. 10) Witnesses reported that Officer Gore holstered his revolver to conduct the search. The time was just prior to 23:55.
Meanwhile, Officer Frago abandoned his covering position at the front of the Polara and approached the passenger side of the Gran Prix with the shotgun in a “port arms” position. Nearing the vehicle, he reportedly shifted the butt of the shotgun to his right hip and held the firearm with the muzzle in the air with his right hand only, as he reached for the door handle of the Pontiac with his left hand to remove the noncompliant passenger, Twining (Refer again to Fig. 10)10
As Officer Frago reached for the door handle, Twining suddenly opened the door and spun to face Officer Frago with a four-inch Smith & Wesson Model 28 .357 Magnum revolver in his hand.11 Officer Frago was reported to have yelled “Hold it!” before Twining fired twice with the revolver, striking him in the left armpit area with both shots. The bullets from the Western-brand .357 Magnum cartridges traversed Officer Frago’s upper chest, killing him instantly, and he fell where he stood. (Fig. 11)12
Twining quickly exited the vehicle and turned to fire two shots at Officer Gore, who was near Davis on the other side of the vehicle. In his haste, Twining triggered both shots low, into the right rear side of the Pontiac’s body and roof as he tracked the gun upward towards Officer Gore. (Fig. 12) As this happened, Officer Gore turned away from Davis, drew his revolver, and fired a single round of Remington-Peters .357 Magnum ammunition at Twining across the deck lid of the car. The shot went wide and missed Twining, striking the right rear window of a Ford Mustang parked in the restaurant parking lot and exiting out that car’s rear window. (Refer again to Fig. 12.)
With Officer Gore focused on the threat across the car from him, Davis had the opportunity to push back from the car, spin to his right, and pull a two-inch Smith & Wesson Model 38 Bodyguard Airweight .38 Special revolver from his waistband (the same gun he had used to threaten the Tidwells with earlier). Davis shot the distracted officer twice in the chest at arm’s