DA clears Huntington Beach officer who shot and killed a man outside a 7-Eleven across from Marina High School

SANTA ANA – A Huntington Beach police officer was legally justified in shooting and killing a man last year outside a 7-Eleven across the street from Marina High School, Orange County District Attorney’s Office officials announced Wednesday.

Officer Eric Esparza’s actions “were reasonable and justified under the circumstances” when he shot 27-year-old Dylan Tabares during a struggle on Sept. 22, Assistant District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh wrote in a letter released Wednesday outlining a legal review of the shooting.

Cell-phone video taken by witnesses to the shooting spread quickly across social media, bringing widespread attention to Tabares’ death. A month after he was killed, law-enforcement officials announced that Tabares was tied to the Sept. 19 beating death of 80-year-old Richard Darland, a Huntington Beach resident who had tried to help Tabares get back on his feet.

Baytieh, in a Wednesday news conference, described Tabares as a transient with a history of mental issues, methamphetamine abuse and combative encounters with police.

He served nearly four years in the U.S. Navy, according to the federal government, leaving in 2012. His brother has said Tabares left with a “less than an honorable discharge,” and Tabares blamed himself in a Facebook post without getting specific.

Unlike other Orange County police departments where officer-involved shootings are investigated from the beginning by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, police shootings in Huntington Beach are investigated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which turns its findings over to the DA’s Office for legal review.

Officer Esparza declined to provide a voluntary statement to sheriff’s investigators, Baytieh said, so the investigation into the shooting failed to uncover why the officer initially contacted Tabares outside of the 7-Eleven.

The investigators did speak to several witnesses, including a registered nurse who said Tabares “looked out of it” and appeared to be under the influence of a drug. According to Baytieh, Tabares was “shouting and arguing” with the officer and ignoring his commands to stop walking toward him. The officer used a Taser on Tabares, Baytieh said, to no apparent effect.

WARNING: The video below contains graphic content

Cell-phone video shows Tabares outside the 7-11 quickly walking toward the retreating officer, who appears to have his weapon drawn. Tabares punches the officer in the face. The officer grabs Tabares and wrestles with him onto the ground.

The officer, still standing, tries to control Tabares.

The video shows Tabares grabbing an item off of the officer’s belt, which prosecutors have identified as a black flashlight. The officer then gets clear and backs up a few feet, draws his gun, fires six shots at Tabares, pauses for a few seconds, and fires a seventh shot.

Baytieh said one witness described Tabares as seeming to have “super strength,” because the officer couldn’t overpower him. A toxicology test taken after Tabares’ death found methamphetamine in his system. DNA from Tabares was also found on several items in the officer’s belt, including the grip of his pistol.

In body-camera footage from officers who responded to the shooting, Esparza can be heard telling a fellow officer that Tabares was “trying to take my gun.”

“(Tabares) physically charged at an officer and engaged in a struggle, resulting in his death,” District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said at the news conference.

In statements to investigators, Tabares’ family members said he appeared to suffer from paranoid delusions. His brother said Tabares was “truly resentful” toward a police officer who arrested him for assaulting a Del Taco employee, an incident that led to his serving a two-year sentence for battery causing serious bodily injury.

Tabares was released from prison eight days before his death. He had failed to check in with a parole officer, leading a judge to sign an arrest warrant for him.