EUREKA OFFICER CLEARED BY
CORONER’S INQUEST
On December 26, 1999, at
approximately 8 p.m., Eureka Police Department dispatch received a 911
call of a possible burglary at a residence on W. Russ Street in Eureka,
a residence occupied by a husband and wife in their mid 70s. Sergeant
Zanotti responded to the dispatch from the street, and Officers Brian
Franco (primary) and Mark Victors (back-up) responded from the police
department. When Franco and Victors arrived, Zanotti was out on the
corner by the residence with a witness. Victors pulled up to Zanotti,
asked in what direction the suspect had gone, and was told that the
suspect had gone down one block and turned left on Spring Street.
Victors advised that he
would check out the area. There was no description of the suspect, other
than he was a white male with a dark jacket. As Victors turned left on
Spring Street, he saw an individual wearing a denim jacket walking
briskly from Spring Street onto the parking lot area of WinCo (like
Price Club/Costco), an area only one and a half blocks from the possible
burglary residence. This subject had a baseball cap on, head down, and
was busy stuffing something under his jacket. By the pace of his walk
and the fact that he passed both the exit and entrance doors of WinCo as
Victors was following slowly in his patrol vehicle, it appeared this
individual had no intent of shopping at WinCo, or any other reason for
being in this area.
As Victors eased his
patrol car behind the suspect, "Johannsen" took his
baseball-type hat off, tried to stuff if in his coat, looked at Victor’s
patrol vehicle, put his hat back on, placed his head down and kept
walking at a brisk pace. Victors stopped his patrol vehicle, stepped out
and called to Johannsen, who turned, looked back at Victors, turned back
and kept walking.
Johannsen was, at this
point, on parole from San Quentin, where he had served time for an
earlier violation of Penal Code §246 (shooting into an inhabited
building) a conviction which resulted from him shooting at and into the
Eureka Police Department. Johannsen had failed a drug test and was
wanted on a parole warrant, had eluded police on an earlier car stop,
and was considered armed and very dangerous. The Eureka Police
Department had issued numerous Briefing Bulletins (shown and read to
officers at briefing) over the prior 45 days, describing Johannsen.
Johannsen was also an accomplished car thief.
Victors then got out of
his vehicle and walked in the same direction as Johannsen, calling out
to him to stop. Johannsen stopped, turned to face Victors, and was
holding what appeared to be a wallet in front of him. Victors asked
Johannsen where he was coming from, and if he had any identification.
Johannsen reached to his wallet, pulled out a white card, looked at it,
put it back in the wallet, and told Victors that he did not have any
I.D. Victors knew, from seeing Johannsen’s face, that Johannsen was
wanted, but could not specifically identify him. Because of the
attempted burglary one and a half blocks away, and Johannsen’s
suspicious behavior, as well as the fact he was wanted for something,
Victors attempted to detain Johannsen by grabbing his wrist and elbow to
place him in a control hold in order to handcuff him. Johannsen broke
free and ran. As Johannsen ran, Victors radioed for help and began
chasing Johannsen, yelling at him to stop. Johannsen took a few more
steps, stopped, turned directly toward Victors, put his hands up in a
fighting stance and began to advance on Victors stating, "Okay, it’s
me and you. Let’s go for it." Victors swung once with his
nunchucks, striking Johannsen on the left bicep. Unfazed, Johannsen
reached out, grabbed Victors by his shirt/jacket, ripping the shirt
open, pulled Victors toward him and began pummeling Victors with his
fist stating, "I’m going to kill you," several times, while
striking Victors in the head and face. As Johannsen was holding on to
Victors and punching him, he pushed Victors backwards in an attempt to
get Victors to lose his balance.
Victors used one hand to
try and break free from Johannsen’s grip, while using the other hand
to attempt to deflect Johannsen’s punches. Victors, at 145 pounds, was
no physical match for Johannsen, at 190 pounds. Victors attempted to
reach to his left side of his duty belt with his right hand to try and
get out his asp or mace, or press the "alert" button on his
portable radio, all to no avail, as he was being continually punched by
Johannsen. Finally, Victors pulled out his duty weapon, made one last
attempt to break Johannsen’s grip on him and to disengage and, that
failing, shot one shot, hitting Johannsen in the right center chest
area. Johannsen disengaged and fell to the ground.
Victors immediately
notified dispatch of "shots fired, one down," and the need for
medical assistance for Johannsen. Franco arrived from the burglary scene
a few blocks away and immediately recognized Johannsen as the parole
violator. He asked Johannsen if he had any weapons, and was able to
locate on Johannsen an unzipped fanny pack on Johannsen’s right hip,
containing a .357 magnum pistol, fully loaded with hydroshock bullets.
Despite immediate medical assistance, Johannsen died in surgery due to
the loss of blood. With the assistance of representative, Chris Darker,
of Redding, Victors fully complied with his Lybarger obligations, but
invoked his right not to talk to the district attorney’s
representative, or the Critical Incident Investigation team.
District Attorney Terry
Farmer, apparently displeased with Victor’s decision to invoke his
constitutional rights, told Coroner Frank J. Jager, to hold a Coroner’s
Inquest. Jager hired Robert ("Bob") Hicock to conduct the
two-day, 35 witness proceeding, which took place on March 6 and 7, 2000,
in Eureka. Victors, then represented by William R. Rapoport, of San
Mateo, a Legal Defense Fund panel attorney, voluntarily testified for
over an hour near the end of the Inquest. After 45 minutes of
deliberation, the Inquest returned the only verdict possible under the
circumstances, i.e., "this death to have occurred at the hands of
another other than by accident," but went beyond their sworn duty,
and also included in their findings that, "we further recommend
this to have occurred as an act of self defense."
Victors was returned to
duty a week after the incident and remains on patrol duty for the Eureka
Police Department.
LDF Home Page | News
Article Index
