Transcript: Cop says ‘I didn’t know they were allowed to do that?’ after shooting by bounty hunter – Desert Sun

David Spann, moments before his death, questioned the authority of those who were in his Palm Springs condo attempting to arrest him, saying"the real police areon their way."

Soon afterhe was fatally shot by a bounty hunter sent to arrest him for an alleged bail contract violation, the two police officers who were present during the standoff also made statements questioning the identity and authority of the shooter and his partner, according to newly released video transcripts.

Fabian Hector Herrera, a bounty hunter, and his mother, Lisa Vargas, who accompanied him for the arrest attempt,have both been charged with murder in connection with Spann's death, which happened during a chaotic confrontation in the morning hours ofApril 23.

The transcriptsobtained by The Desert Sunfrom the Riverside County Superior Court providea written record of the audio recorded on the body cameras of two Palm Springs police officers Rhett Arden andEmmi Kramer who responded to the scene whereSpann was fatally shot by Herrera in their presence.

It documents approximately 50 more minutes of body camera footage that has neither been played in court nor releasedto the public. The footage does not include regular time stamping, but does capture the discussion between officers about who the shooter is and what authority a bounty hunter does or doesn't have within minutes of Spann being shot.

Palm Springs bounty hunter case: Bodycam footage #1

Body camera footage from two Palm Springs police officers shows the fatal confrontation resulting in murder charges against two bounty hunters.

Palm Springs Desert Sun

Right before Spann was shot, Arden had deployed his Taser but it failed to fully incapacitate Spann. What came next was the focus of two days of testimonyto determine if the case against Herrera would go to trial.

Both transcripts of the videos recordthat Arden said:"Taser.Drop it. Shoot."

However, both attorneys and the judge debated during the preliminary hearing if Arden said after firing the Taser: "Got 'em," "drop 'em," "drop it"or something phonetically similar.

Within two seconds of Arden saying "shoot," according to the body cam time counter, a single shot can be heard as the officers turn and retreat down the stairs.

"Did we hit him?" Kramer asks.

"He's hit," Herrera said.

"Shot fired and taser deployed," Arden can be heard in the video saying onhis radio and to Kramer, standing nearby. "Shot by the uh fugitive guy."

Raj Maline, Herrera's defense attorney, has argued that his clientfired the lethal shot at the command of Arden.

Two days of testimony repeatedly touched on thequestionof whatArden meant when he said "shoot" after his taser caused Spann only to stumble, and what authority the bounty hunters did or didn't have in light of the statement.

Clicke here: To view the whole transcript.

While CPR was being administered to Spann while prone in the second-floor hallway,oneofficer, not identified in the transcripts, askedwho"the fugitive folks" were.

"I have ... no idea," Krameris recorded as saying on transcripts of both her body-worn camera video, and Arden's.

However, Riverside County Sheriff Investigator Jarred Bishop has testifiedduring the preliminary hearing that Kramer andArdentold himthey believed Herrera was a cop when they arrived at Spann's home in the middle of the standoff.

Bishop and another investigator testified that Herrera was wearing boots, pants and a tactical vest very similar to those worn by county deputies.

Neither Arden nor Kramer testified during Herrera's preliminary hearing.

At several points in the transcripts, which continue until about 25 minutes after Spann wasshot, the "fugitives" or "fugitive folks" are mentioned, amid other conversation about emergency medical measuresand a device that was found on the first floor that officers thought could have been an explosive.

Later, according to hertranscript, Kramer said:"I didn't know that they could just enter like that."

Herrera and Vargas forcedentry into Spann's home by smashing his door in with a sledgehammer, according to court testimony,after Herrera attemptedto kick in the door, gun in hand, with no apparent warning or request to enter.

An officer not identified in the transcripts of the videos responds: "...these guys are practically civilians. They don't have to, you know, abide by the Fourth Amendment like, like we do. If they see him inside, they can force entry. And he probably peeked through the window..."

The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure and requires that a warrant be established on probable cause.

Palm Springs bounty hunter case: Security camera footage captures 2 defendants' actions

On April 23, 2021, Fabian Hector Herrera is captured attempting to kick in the door of David Spann, soon before Herrera broke into Spann's Palm Springs condo and fatally shot him.

Christopher Damien, Palm Springs Desert Sun

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Russell Moore found at the conclusion of the Sept. 20 hearingthat Herrera was not permitted to make the arrest because he didnot have a bail agent license and had twice been convicted of felonies in the past. As a result, Moore said that the botched arrest attempt amounted to attempted kidnapping and Spann's death, a murder during the commission of a felony.

California law requires that a person canforce entry into a home if they suspect someone committed a felony, only after demanding and being denied entry.

Spann was charged with a misdemeanor;there was no warrant for his arrest and his bail had not been forfeited by a judge. His arrest had been ordered earlier in the day by Justice Bail Bondsof Temecula,and sent to Herrera to carry out, for an alleged violation of his bail contract.

The Palm Springs police body camera footage releasedto the public by the Riverside County Superior Court Wednesday sheds light on what transpired in the confrontation that resulted in the death of one man and murder charges for two bounty hunters.

The footage shows the two Palm Springs officers arriving at Spann's condo at 2:17 a.m. on April 23. Within minutes the officers had entered the condo through the front door presumably destroyed by Herrera minutes before.

Almost immediately, Spann can be heard yelling for the bounty hunters to leave his home.

Arden walks up the stairway and stops partially behind a wall next to Herrera.

"You're not the police, get the fuck out of here," Spann can be heard saying.

"We're the police," Arden responds.

A panicalarm is blaring at this point in the video.

"Ya, you're so convincing," Spann said. "Get out of my house. The real police are on their way."

"We have a warrant for your arrest," Herrera yells.

"For what?" Spann yells.There was no active warrant for Spann's arrest at the time.

Soon after, Spann appears to pick up a knife that was previously out of view from Arden's body cam. Then Arden also points his gun at Spann, who takes a step into the hallway.

"You got lethal?" Arden asks Herrera.

"Ya," he responds.

Bishop later testified that Arden was asking Herrera to have his firearm ready should the Taser fail.

"Can anyone help me?" Spann asks.

"You're gonna get tased," Arden said and fires the electroshockweapon.

Spann stumbles momentarily but gets up.

Herrera fires the shot as the two officers turn to retreat down the stairs. Kramer attempts to jump back through the splintered front door and Arden moves further into the living room.

The rest of the body cam footage shows the officersattempting to retrieve the knife, get Vargas out of the house and keep Spann alive.

Herrera can be seen pacing and cursing to himself in apparent distress.

"He's not breathing," Herrera can be heard saying.

"Stay with us bro," Arden says.

Spann can be seen in the footage laying on his back struggling to breathe, witha single gunshot wound to the chest.The footage stops soon after.

Palm Springs bounty hunter case: Police bodycam footage released (Part 2)

Body camera footage from two Palm Springs police officers shows the fatal confrontation resulting in murder charges against two bounty hunters.

Palm Springs Desert Sun

Bishop testified on Aug. 23 that both officers told him they believed Herrera was a police officer when they arrived at Spann's apartment. Arden's request that Herrera have lethal backup suggests this, Bishop said.

The transcripts, however, document theofficers referring to Herrera asthe "fugitive guy" approximately 20 minutes after the shooting; no attempts are made in the transcript to clarify what was meant by this.

Arden also was recorded identifying "the fugitive guy" as the shooter.

Following the shooting, the transcript ofArden's body cam video includes pages of discussion between officers and fire personnel providing Spann with medical treatment, while others begin to collect evidence.

"Any other injuries?" someone asks Arden.

"Uh, he's got the, I tased him," Arden responds.

Soon after, a personnot identified in the transcript, but referred to by Arden as "sir," asks: "Do we know who they are?"

"Who who are?" Arden responds.

"Who the, the fugitives are?" the person said.

"The fugitive. I don't know their names," Arden said.

Kramer, according to her transcript, says: "I have ... no idea."

The exchange occurs less than five minutes after the shooting, because Arden later says CPR has been happening for about that long. It's unclear if they are referring to Spann or the bounty hunters here.

The transcript captures audio of officerstaking photos of the scene, who make further mentionthat a device that looked like it could have been an explosive was seen in the home. Police did not report finding an explosive at the scene.

"Uh what do you want to do with the spent round?" Kramer askedan officer not identified in the transcript.

"Leave it," the officer responds, with reference to the Penal Code for criminal homicide:"Yeah. Cuz, this, this [inaudible], who knows if this one goes 187."

Another unidentified officer asks if anyone knows information about Spann, some other unidentified person provides a guess at a year of birth. Kramer adds she knows his name and spells it out.

The transcripts indicateSpann sufferedcardiac arrest about 10 minutes after CPR was started. It appears he was pronounced dead at 2:39 a.m., about 19 minutes after he was shot.

Click here: to view the whole transcript.

"It's Jose's Bail Bond," a person not identified in Arden'stranscriptsaid soon after.

"Let me ask him what he wants to do," Kramer said."He keeps walking away but uh uh..."

Jose Navarro, a licensed bail agent who ownsJose Navarro Bails Bonds, testified that he sent Spann's arrest order to Herrera after receiving it from Justice Bail Bonds.

Navarro testified that Herrera called him soon after the shooting. He said Herrera wasdifficult to understand and sounded like he had been crying, and Navarro said that Herrera told him he had shot Spann. The police contacted Navarro and told him to come to the scene. When he arrived, Navarro testified, he asked if the body cameras had been secured and said the cameraswere removed in his presence.

Raj Maline, Herrera's attorney, discussed at length during the preliminary hearing bounty hunter'spresumed powers of arrest.

California'sBail Fugitive Recovery Persons Actdetails the laws regulating how bail agents and bounty hunters can arrest bail fugitives. Malinesaid during the hearing that Herrera was in violation of the act because he was a felon without a bail license.

However, Maline, argued that the private bail agreement Spann appears to have signed gave the bail agency the power to arrest him anytime and anywhere.

"He came under their control," Maline said, referring to the bail agreement. "He consented."

Rob Hightower, the prosecuting attorney, argued during the hearing that screenshots found on Herrera's phone indicate heknew there were limitations to what he could do because he didn't have a bail license. But he attempted the arrest anyway, Hightower continued,committing several crimes in the process.

Moore agreed with the prosecution.

"It logically follows that defendant had no authority to effect an arrest of Spann and certainly not one committed by forcible entry into Spann's home during early-morning hours," he said.

"Furthermore, defendant lied to Spann when he twice stated that he and Vargas had a warrant for Spann's arrest," Moore wrote, referencing what can be heard in the body cam footage. "No such warrant existed."

While Herrera appears to haveconvinced Arden he was a cop, Moore added, he didn't fool Spann.

"But if anyone was privileged to use force on April 23, 2021, at least at the outset, it was Spann who witnessed two intruders break into his home late at night and then corner him at gunpoint in the second floor of his relatively small condominium," Moore wrote.

The Spann family has said that they believe police officers should have removed Herrera and Vargas from the home in an attempt to deescalate the confrontation with Spann. Joseph Spann said his son was defending himself against an intruder at 2 a.m. and was likely not in a clear state of mind before being shot.

Spann's father and brother have both confirmed that they have asked the state's Office of the Attorney General and Department of Insurance, which oversees the bail industry, to investigate the role of the police officers and bail agencies involved in the shooting.

Both departments declined to say whether or not they are investigating the incident, when The Desert Sun contacted them about the release of the body camera footage.

Riverside County Sheriff Investigator Jarred Bishop's investigation into whether the officers are criminally culpable for their role in the shooting remains open. The District Attorney's Office, which would make the ultimate determination, said they currently have no estimate of when it will be completed.

The two officers returned to regular patrol duties within about a week of the shooting, the Palm Springs Police Department previously told The Desert Sun.

Christopher Damien covers public safety and the criminal justice system. He can be reached at christopher.damien@desertsun.com or follow him at @chris_a_damien.

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Transcript: Cop says 'I didn't know they were allowed to do that?' after shooting by bounty hunter - Desert Sun