Photo courtesy: Chino PD

By Anthony Saude

Chino – The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office in favor of a Chino police officer for a fatal shooting of a man on  July 23, 2016

Bernard Wells III, 31 of San Diego, was shot and killed when he pointed a gun at Lt. William Covington and ignored an order to stop during a foot pursuit.

The incident took place at about 9:15 p.m. in a parking lot in the 12100 parking lot of Central Avenue. Wells approached a family and said that he was “looking for some weed” according to the District Attorney’s report at the time. Witnesses told investigators that Wells kept his hands on the front of his pants and they thought that he had a gun in his possession.

Wells drove away after the family told him they didn’t have any marijuana the DA’s report said. A little later a police officer was driving by and was flagged down by the family. While the officer was speaking with the family Wells drove by. The family pointed out Well’s vehicle out to the officer.

Wells parked his car and was getting out when the officer approached him. The officer attempted to search Wells; when he refused to let the officer search him he took off running. The office went after him in pursuit and radioed it in.

Covington was wearing a body camera that clearly shows him leaving a store; he heard the officer’s radio broadcast of the pursuit. He set his ice cream on the trunk of his patrol car and ran toward the area that Wells was running towards. The body camera that Covington was wearing clearly shows that he cut Wells off, pulled in gun and yelled, “get on the ground right now!”

Wells raised his right arm and pointed a gun at Covington the report said. Covington fired three shots at Wells and he went down. The Paramedics arrived on the scene and transported Wells to a nearby hospital via ambulance. He was pronounced dead later that evening.

By Anthony Chan

Chino – Chino Police Department is escalating enforcement efforts to stop impaired driving. In a traffic safety fact sheet released by the NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 4,976 motorcyclists killed and 22,441 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2015 compared with 4,494 motorcyclists killed and 21,050 passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2014, an 8% and 6% increase respectively.

As traffic related deaths increase, Chino Police Department remains determined to save lives through a combination of increased nationwide and statewide messages on the dangers of driving under the influence from the national enforcement campaign Ride Sober or Get Pulled Over and increased enforcement with more officers on the road.

Part of the increased enforcement effort is the deployment of a specialized DUI Enforcement Team that will conduct DUI saturation patrols in areas with high frequencies of DUI collisions and/or arrests on Sept. 8 to 10, from 6 pm to 3 am. “During this period, local law enforcement will show zero tolerance for alcohol or drug impaired riding,” according to an article released by the City of Chino.

The goal of these increased enforcement efforts is to “drastically reduce death and injuries on our nation’s roadways” and “drastically reduce impaired driving for both rider and drivers in our community’s roadways,” says the City of Chino.

In the past year, Chino Police Department has hired more police officers to help with DUI enforcement and other law enforcement efforts. Chino Police has increased the police force from 42 officers in 2016 to 51 officers in 2017.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, started its Ride Sober or Get Pulled Over ad campaign to stop drunk driving in 2012. It’s TV ad emphasized police officers’ uncanny ability to sense drunk drivers without being seen.

Please report drunk drivers by calling 9-1-1.