POLICE BRIEFS

-- Tariq Malik

An Orange County Sheriff’s investigation into the May 5 police

shooting of 18-year-old Antonio Saldivar found the Oak View teen was not

the suspect being pursued by a Huntington Beach officer when he was shot.

On June 13, sheriff’s officials said that the officer pursuing a

suspect seen peering into parked cars lost sight of the suspect, came

upon Saldivar holding a toy rifle in the 17000 block of Ash Street where

he was shot at about 1:39 a.m. after apparently being mistaken for the

man they were chasing.

Five-year veteran Officer Mark Wersching, 26, who shot and killed

Saldivar, led to the latest development when he arrested Brigido Cara

Mendez, 21, on an outstanding warrant two weeks after the shooting,

police officials said.

Mendez told authorities that it was he police were pursuing the night

of Saldivar’s death and then allegedly made threats to Wersching’s life,

they added.

Huntington Beach police said they were wrong when they said Saldivar

ran from officers before he was shot and officials with the sheriff’s

department have corroborated Mendez’s account of the shooting.

The FBI announced last week its criminal investigation to determine

whether Saldivar’s civil rights were violated by police when he was shot

and killed.

Saldivar’s death ignited protests from residents of the Oak View area,

who marched on police headquarters and said their faith in the department

was shaken.