A criminal grand jury voted to not indict the Gilroy Police Department officer who shot and killed a man on the side of Highway 152 last February.
A criminal grand jury voted to not indict the Gilroy Police Department officer who shot and killed a man on the side of Highway 152 last February.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office presented the case to the criminal grand jury – composed of 19 randomly selected jurors throughout the county replaced every three months – and the body announced July 2 that there was not enough evidence to indict GPD officer Eustaquio “Paco” Rodriguez, according to Assistant District Attorney David Tompkins. An indictment requires 12 votes, but Tompkins said he did not even know what the breakdown was. He also declined to comment on how long the jury deliberated, but said the case was presented to the body July 1.
Rodriguez, a six-year veteran of the Gilroy Police Department, was westbound on Highway 152 Feb. 8 on an hour-long drive back to Gilroy from Gustine, where he served a subpoena. He spotted Gurmit Singh, 33, lying in the roadway with his head over the white line. Singh had been involved in a violent dispute with family members prior to being left on the side of the road, police said, and when Rodriguez stopped to help the man, Singh attacked. Rodriguez pulled his gun and fired. Singh died several hours later at a San Jose hospital.
Relatives of Singh declined to comment about the grand jury decision. Family friends have said Singh’s parents still reside in India, and his wife and two children live in Seattle, Wash. Rodriguez could not be reached for comment, but Sgt. jim Gillio offered a comment.
“This was a tragic event for everyone involved. We are satisfied with the grand jury’s decision and glad to be able to provide closure for officer Rodriguez and the family,” Gillio said.
Because the incident occurred in the county, the Sheriff’s Department began the investigation that parlayed into the grand jury’s probe. Sgt. Gillio’s internal investigation remains open, and he expects to conclude it soon, he said. As is customary whenever a grand jury decides not to indict someone, however, those transcripts will remain sealed “as a matter of privacy,” Tompkins said.
“The mere fact that someone is accused of a crime and not indicted can be an embarrassment,” Tompkins added.
Police have never specified whether or not Gurmit Singh was armed when he Rodriguez shot him. Singh’s bother-in-law, Gurbax Singh, was in the car with Gurmit Singh just prior to his death and said that Gurmit was on medication at the time, but he also refused to delve into the specifics of that night’s events. Before Singh’s death, an officer had not shot and killed anyone in more than 15 years.
Although police would not say what Singh did to provoke the shooting, Gillio said GPD policy specifies that “officers can use deadly force to protect themselves or others from what they reasonably believe will be an imminent threat of death or bodily harm.”
