Officer Ron Smith Charged with Aggravated Assault

A grand jury indicted a Seattle police detective and a Hells Angels member whom the detective shot and wounded in a bar fight at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.

The detective, Ron Smith, 43, was charged with aggravated assault, perjury and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. The Hells Angel, Joseph McGuire, 33, of Imperial Beach, Calif., was charged with aggravated assault, the Meade County state's attorney reported Thursday.

In addition, four other members of a law enforcement-oriented motorcycle club -- a second Seattle police officer, two U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, and a U.S. Defense Department firefighter -- were charged with carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, a misdemeanor, according to State's Attorney Jesse Sondreal.

The shooting happened about 1 a.m. Aug. 9 at the Loud American Roadhouse, a crowded bar in Sturgis. The detective, a member of the Iron Pigs motorcycle club, said several Hells Angels jumped him and that he fired in self-defense after being beaten.

The other four Iron Pigs members indicted are Dennis McCoy, 59, a North Precinct patrol sergeant in Seattle; Scott Lazalde, 38; James Rector, 44; and Erik Pingel, 35.

Should the case reach a jury, the weapons charge carries an alternative offense of failing to abide by the gun permit of a reciprocal state, according to the statement.

Lazalde, of Bellingham, and Rector, of Ferndale, are stationed in Blaine with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Both remain on duty while the agency awaits formal notification of the charges, spokesman Mike Milne said.

Rector is a 20-year veteran and assistant port director of passenger vehicles, he said.

Pingel is a civilian firefighter at Buckley Air Force Base outside Aurora, Colo., according to an Air Force spokesman.

The South Dakota grand jury met Wednesday to hear from 10 more witnesses before the indictments were issued. It was the grand jury's second hearing since 25 witnesses, including Smith and other officers, appeared on Aug. 10.

Smith's testimony is apparently the basis for the perjury charge.

No court date had been set.

Either warrants or summonses would be "issued and served as appropriate," according to the state's attorney.

Smith and McGuire could face up to 15 years' imprisonment if convicted of aggravated assault. The grand jury also indicted on an alternative charge of misdemeanor assault, which would give a jury the choice of a lesser crime.

The misdemeanor version is punishable by up to a year in jail. The perjury charge could carry a penalty of up to five years.

Smith was one of five Seattle officers with the Iron Pigs at the bar while vacationing at the rally. Witnesses told the Seattle P-I that the confrontation might have started because some Hells Angels members took umbrage to the officers wearing their "colors," or three-piece patches, into the bar.

A Seattle police spokesman said Thursday that Smith and McCoy would remain on administrative leave while the department conducts its investigation. The three Seattle officers who aren't facing charges would be returned to duty, according to a department source.

Smith, of the pawnshop unit, is on the Seattle Police Officers' Guild's board of directors and is editor of the guild's newspaper, The Guardian. In a statement, police guild Vice President Ty Elster urged the community not to pass judgment until the officers have had their day in court.

"We are certain that once all the facts are known, the involved SPOG members will be vindicated and absolved of any wrongdoing," he said.

Federal law allows off-duty and retired police officers to carry their weapons anywhere in the country, overriding any state or local gun regulations. But officers are not covered by the law if under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or have been removed from duty, or have certain disabilities.

There have been cases around the country where officers were charged with weapons violations under a local regulation and relied on the federal law to get the case dismissed, said Ted Deeds, spokesman for the Law Enforcement Alliance of America, which spearheaded the drive to pass the law in 2004.

McGuire was shot twice, with one round striking his abdomen and another shattering his femur. He spent several days in intensive care after making the trip to the rally from the San Diego area. His brother said it was McGuire's first trip to Sturgis.

He left California despite pending marijuana charges against him in San Diego County. McGuire and several other Hells Angels members, including the San Diego chapter president, were arrested during drug raids conducted by federal agents and San Diego police in January 2007.

McGuire has prior convictions for burglary and possession of an illegal knife, according to San Diego County Superior Court records.

Smith had a previous tangle with a Hells Angels member in 2005. He filed a report of possible harassment against Anthony J. Magnesi, whom he said had threatened him during a telephone conversation.

Magnesi had called Smith after hearing from friends that the detective was asking about him. He wanted to find out if he were under investigation, according to Magnesi's attorney, Paul Bernstein.

At the time, Magnesi owned Lucky's Choppers, a custom motorcycle shop in Georgetown. He'd been charged before with first-degree assault for shooting near a man's feet during a scuffle in an unrelated case. But it was dismissed when the state's witnesses backed out of testifying, according to court records.

Magnesi taped one of his conversations with Smith and argued it was proof that Smith had threatened him. After hearing the tape, city prosecutors dropped the harassment charge against Magnesi, according to Bernstein and court records.

At one point on tape, Smith tells him: "Yeah, you better watch your back." Later, he tells Magnesi he has no reason to be calling and asks if he's laundering money, according to a copy that Magnesi's friend played for the P-I.

Smith tells Magnesi that "playing on the phone" is a crime and that belonging to the Hells Angels is a bigger crime, according to the tape.

Magnesi filed a complaint with the department's Office of Professional Accountability, which handles internal investigations. The complaint was referred to Smith's supervisor.

Smith has been disciplined twice before for unprofessional behavior.

He was suspended for two days for conduct unbecoming of an officer after an incident at a Seahawks game in January 2005.

He received a written reprimand after he was accused in August 2005 of threatening to shoot a man at a Tacoma bar while off-duty.

Internal records show that the man was bothering some of the officer's friends. But witnesses also heard the officer utter a racial remark at the restaurant manager, who had asked him to leave, according to department records.


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/377182_sturgis30.html

Biker shot by officer leaves intensive care

The Hells Angels member who was shot and wounded by an off-duty Seattle police detective at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota was taken out of intensive care Tuesday as he recovers from two gunshot wounds, one to the stomach and the second to the leg, his younger brother said.

The 33-year-old man was shot Saturday during a confrontation with the officer at the Loud American Roadhouse, a packed bar in Sturgis. One bullet tore open his bowels, and the other shattered his femur, said his brother, a restaurant manager in the San Diego area. He asked that his name not be used.

The officer, a 43-year-old detective, and four other Seattle officers were vacationing at the rally. The officer has said he was jumped and beaten and feared for his life, so he fired in self-defense. The detective belongs to the Iron Pigs motorcycle club, which is geared toward police officers and firefighters.

A Meade County, S.D., grand jury is examining the evidence for possible charges.

The San Diego-area biker's brother said he hasn't tried to pry too much into the details, given his brother's health.

"We want him to focus on healing up and getting healthy," he said, adding that they hope to have him home in a week.

The biker was shot on his first trip to the weeklong rally in South Dakota. He rode out with friends and first visited his sister in Missoula, Mont., staying for a few days there before heading to Sturgis, his brother said.

"He'd been looking forward to it for quite a while. He's been working and saving money to go for months," he said.

Security camera video of the incident was taken into evidence to be presented to the grand jury, Meade County State's Attorney Jesse Sondreal said. Seattle police guild officials have said the video would show that the shooting was justified.

The biker is a roofer and has belonged to the Hells Angels for about 10 years. His brother said he doesn't know much about the events before the shooting, though his brother is usually mellow and not the type "to get in someone's face."

He said he spoke with his brother's friends who were at Sturgis. They told him that his brother had gotten separated from his group in the bar. He said his brother's friends didn't immediately know he had been shot.

His brother has no history of violent crimes, he said. His San Diego court records confirm that, though they show he was due for a hearing Aug. 20 on pending marijuana charges from a police raid in January 2007.

The Hells Angels member was arrested as part of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the San Diego Police Department. Police served warrants on two San Diego-area homes that belonged to the president of the Hells Angels local chapter, according to the District Attorney's Office.

He and the chapter treasurer were arrested at one of the homes in Pacific Beach afterward. Police seized a pound and a half of marijuana, in addition to hydrocodone and oxycodone pills and $5,000 in cash.