Acquitted officer Frank White returning to duty
SDPD officer to begin administrative post while department performs its own investigation.
A San Diego policeman acquitted of weapons charges stemming from the off-duty shooting of a woman and her 8-year-old son during a North County traffic dispute 15 months ago will return to duty next week, Chief William Lansdowne confirmed today.
On Tuesday, Frank White will begin an administrative post with the department’s Operational Support Division, which works out of downtown San Diego Police Department headquarters, Lansdowne said. White, who was a patrol officer at the time of the non-fatal shooting, will remain in his new position pending the completion of an internal probe into what disciplinary actions, if any, should result from his use of a gun during the encounter.
Related: Officer acquitted in road rage case
That review should be done in about three weeks, the chief said. On Monday, a jury found White not guilty of felony gross negligent discharge of a firearm and a misdemeanor count of displaying a gun in an angry of threatening manner in connection with the March 15, 2008, wounding of Oceanside resident Rachel Silva and her son, Johnny, at a strip mall near their home.
If convicted of all charges, White would have faced up to nine years in prison. White, 29, testified that he opened fire on Silva’s car after she cut him off in traffic, swerved recklessly around his vehicle, then backed into it in a parking lot outside a home-improvement store on Old Grove Road.
White, whose wife was in the passenger seat next to him, said he fired in self- defense and that he had no idea a child was in the car. Silva, then 27, was shot twice in the arm, and her son was hit once in the left knee. Her blood-alcohol level was measured at .15 percent — nearly double the legal limit — two hours later.
She also allegedly had marijuana and methamphetamine in her system at the time. She pleaded guilty last year to felony child endangerment and misdemeanor DUI and is scheduled to be sentenced next month. White has been on voluntary unpaid leave since the shooting.
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Comment by: Sage or Seer Posted: June 23, 2009, 11:26 pm
It’s just one more example of the cops being able to have a much different standard than the commoners. Most employers would have required a drug & alcohol screening of Wild West Officer White, which was not done. Plus, they would have eliminated him from their “force” to reduce the exposure to future liability as a result of demonstrated poor decision-making and behavior, contrary to police training, procedures, policy and protocol. Instead, Uncle (Chief) Billy Landsdowne Syndrome, will reinstate White to the department with pay. We the PEOPLE (and taxpayers) seem to be getting less and less a say in these travesties. When an off-duty cop can shoot up a vehicle in road rage, lie about being threatened, strike and almost kill an eight year old innocent boy, strike the unarmed driver-mother, and then a not-guilty verdict is fixed, and the public thinks this is fair, what difference is this from Iran?
Comment by: Bugs Posted: June 24, 2009, 5:52 am
I’m sure Frank White has spent many nights thinking about other methods he could have used to get away from the crazy Ms. Silva while the local cops were responding to the road rage incident. The off duty use of his pistol has cost him tens of thousands of dollars in criminal defense fees and even more $ in the future to defend himself in a civil case.
Comment by: Police officer Frank White acquitted in road-rage case Posted: June 24, 2009, 7:10 am
[...] See related: Acquitted officer Frank White returning to duty [...]
Comment by: geo8rge Posted: June 25, 2009, 3:39 pm
Frank White should not be a cop, but he is not a criminal. The Government of San Diego made a bad decision in hiring Mr White. Mr White is just not suited to being a cop. The government of San Diego gave him a badge and gun, and determined his competence to use them properly. 100% San Diego’s fault. They should offer him out placement services to help his transition to another field. I cannot say I would be a better cop than Frank White.
Comment by: alan Posted: June 27, 2009, 10:45 pm
Yeah, he’s a criminal. Any right thinking person can see beyond the propaganda. We really need to question the mindset that releases thugs like this back on the street, and furnishes them with guns and authority under the color of law.
Sigh.
Comment by: Carl Drega Posted: June 30, 2009, 5:57 am
Cry me a freaking river… “White spent many nights thinking about other methods he could have used….” Really? He should have “thought” about it during the incident. “The off duty use of his pistol has cost him tens of thousands of $….” So so sad. If White was a civilian instead of a tax-feeding jackboot gang in blue member, this “dangerous criminal” would be prosecuted for attempted murder, felonious assault, child endangerment and who knows what other charges would be piled on. And since this is the people’s socialist republic of california, he would have be presented as a pariah, public menace and justification for more gun control. But alas, White is an anointed law enforcement officer who unlike normal citizens, must be given the “benefit of the doubt” whenever they abuse athority, shoot at motorists on the way to the doughnut shop or otherwise cause harm. This is not isolated, but rather a pandemic around the country.
The mindless boot licking authority worshipers on the jury should be ashamed of themselves. They might as well be German citizens of the third reich to the extent they believe armed agents of the state can do no wrong. The outrage here is that cops around the country literally get away with murder because of dipshit juries like this.
Comment by: Chuck Posted: July 29, 2009, 9:00 pm
The double standard is so obvious here. The only conclusion one can make from White’s acquittal, especially when held up against another citizen who is not a policeman, is that a policeman’s life is more valuable than a civilian’s. After all, you or I would be in jail for drawing and discharging a gun in California, even when we felt our life was in danger. The obvious logic chain here leads directly to the modern American philosophy that policemen’s lives are worth defending, and ours are not. Is this liberty and justive for all? Or just a few? I agree with the earlier post - What makes us any better than Iran, or even North Korea, or any repressive regime when such a stark imbalance exists between those in power and the rest of us right here?
Comment by: Monica Posted: November 28, 2009, 1:54 pm
I find it rather pathetic that the victim’s blood alcohol level and ALLEGED possibility of marijuana and methamphetamine in her system at the time, plus that she pleaded guilty last year to felony child endangerment and misdemeanor DUI and is scheduled to be sentenced next month are even in this report at all. Does any of this information change the fact that she and her son are victim’s of extreme violece by an officer of the law (off-duty status is pointless as well since he was carrying a gun to begin with, just another way to reflect blame off of his department.) No, however, giving this information is used as a ploy to lessen the readers sympathy toward her and her child. Now what I would like to know is what his blood alcohol level was and all of the illegal drugs that were possibly/probably in his system at the time that he committed the crime. Self-defense by use of a gun in a public place? Sounds like both he and his wife have mental problems that require medical care and medication or they were both “self-medicated” at the time. Either way I certainly would not want this officer working in any capacity in my local police department or any police department. So the next time that he flips out or commits another crime who will be held accountable then? Or will all the faults of his victims again be made public for no reason and his actions ultimately again excused?