Peter Muntean with his mother Tina.
What’s up with the Anaheim Police these days? After a good run of not killing anybody for 16 months, there’ve been three terrible incidents in the last 40 days (and none of them in any way gang-related):
- The still-unexplained fatal skull-crushing of homeless, unarmed Chris Eisinger while being arrested by APD in West Anaheim in early March;
- The shooting later in March of fleeing, unarmed Kenneth Yamashita-Magarro by APD in Irvine, now being investigated by Irvine PD as the victim remains in critical condition;
- And now – yesterday, Friday the 13th – the equally pointless morning shooting of unarmed, blind, mentally ill 24-year-old Peter Muntean, now in critical condition and doomed to be paralyzed if he survives.
It has not been an easy life for Peter, being legally blind and mentally ill in Anaheim, and this was not his first disastrous encounter with the APD. Three years ago he was trying on jeans at a store, jeans which – once he found the right size – his mother had promised to purchase for him on her return to the store – but he liked to feel independent and try them on by himself, being too blind to see the labels. Well, the store owner got it into his head that Peter was fixing to steal the jeans, and called the police.
Next thing Peter knew, two cops stormed in, one with a gun drawn, one with a taser, and barked at him to put his hands up. Peter immediately complied, shouting out that he was blind, but as he raised his hands the handle of his walking stick showed through his shirt, and the terrified cops (no doubt “fearing for their lives!”) hollered “gun!” and quickly tased Peter in the chest and side! Peter fell back into a clothes rack and the officers dutifully set in to punching him and stomping on his face (he still had a boot print on his face days later.) Then they hogtied Peter, dragged him to a hospital, and released him without charging him with anything. Because he hadn’t fucking done anything. 2015 that woulda been. The kinda everyday story that doesn’t make the news.
Since then Peter’s been terrified of the cops, and as his mental illness (paranoid schizophrenia?) progressed, there were a few more incidents where, while cowering and hallucinating assailants, he was dragged off roughly at gunpoint from his mom’s yard like an armed hoodlum. Yeah, I know, mentally ill Orange County folks from Kelly Thomas to Monique Deckard to Vincent Valenzuela could attest that OC cops don’t know how to deal with troubled but non-dangerous folks. That is, if they were still alive they could.
So now Peter’s been living on the street a while as so many mentally ill people end up doing, but now and then he’ll get hungry and come by his mother’s house and ask her for something to eat, as he did Thursday night (his last supper?) His mother – Tina’s her name – asked him to come in, but he preferred to stay outside in her car so she lent him the car keys and went inside to get him some food.
When she came back out, the car’s lights were on and the doors all open, but Peter was across the street hiding in fear. “Mom, you were setting me up to kill me!” “No I’m not, Peter, EAT something.” “They’re right there, sitting in the front seats!” “There’s nobody in the car, come back and eat!” He continued to freak out so Tina called 9-1-1 – what else can a mother do? But she asked for the fire department and instead got police. (And this was the incident that police spokesmen and the media have characterized as “domestic violence” to make Peter sound dangerous.)
At first Peter refused to believe that the police were really police, but then he grabbed his backpack and took off running. (Police later claimed that they saw him holding a gun to his own head as he ran – or was it a cell phone? – but this story changed back and forth over the next day.) The officers called for re-inforcements, and boy was there a hoopla! Helicopter, SWAT team with big long guns and masks, EVERYBODY out trying to get Peter, but he got away and they eventually gave up!
They hate it when that happens.
Peter spent the night in a doghouse in a friend’s back yard – he said it was the only place he felt safe. When his friend told him he had to leave, he looked up another friend in the area but had trouble finding the exact apartment – this was near the Carls Jr on Harbor and Broadway, which means it was REALLY close to the police station, so he was quickly spotted in the 7am light: “Hey, isn’t that the guy we were looking for last night?”
And he ran again. This time with notably less luck. How many shots did how many officers fire at Peter as he cowered at a dead-end cul-de-sac in a Seneca Drive condo complex parking lot? Two bullets, which either will have paralyzed or killed him, are still lodged in him – one in his back, and one that entered thru the back of his head and is now in his neck. (Yes, shot in the back while down!) Before that, a beanbag round had felled him (the old “mixing nonlethal projectiles with lethal” hence making a mystery of why bother with nonlethal, as we saw with Monique.) Another bullet hit a parked car behind him. There must’ve been more, because when we spoke with a neighbor – a real law-and-order type who concluded “That guy came to the wrong neighborhood!” – she swore that she heard him (but didn’t see him) shoot multiple times at the poor officers. And the police are not claiming that.
And if he had ANYTHING it was a toy B-B gun that police say they found in a bush 30 or 40 feet away. Was that really there? Was it even his? Did he really have a gun to his head as he fled the night before or was it a cell phone? In any case he was obviously not armed or shooting when they opened fire on him. That doesn’t look good. Maybe that’s why the first scene for media consumption featured a discarded police rifle lying by the shot-up car and the pool of Peter’s blood.
Nice try.
(Deja vu, eh? Remembering pics of Kelly Thomas, Vincent Valenzuela, and Chris Eisinger)
UPDATES, 4/20
1. At this point, Peter cannot live without life support; but his mother Tina who says she communicates with him, says he wants surgery.
2. I’d forgotten – a witness on TV during the shooting heard Peter yelling “Help me!” This would have been at the end of the chase when he was cornered in the parking lot cul-de-sac.
https://www.facebook.com/renee.balenti/videos/10213971589316528/?t=30
UPDATE 4/27
Peter was taken off life support today, at his own request, and passed away at 4:15 pm. His staph infection was too severe and stubborn to allow the operation he needed; and even with that he was doomed to be paralyzed from the neck down.
We also learn from his mother’s good friend Corie (in the comments below) that Peter was off his meds during that fatal week because his mother was having trouble obtaining them, which adds another dimension to the tragedy.
The Orange Juice Blog has received the names of the two APD officers who chased him down and shot him the morning of Friday the 13th: Bartman Horn and Brendan Thomas. Presumably one of those officers knocked Peter down with the beanbag rifle, while the other shot him in the back and back of the head.
Bartman Horn was hired by the APD from the Pasadena Police in 2015, after a 2013 incident where he (coincidentally?) paralyzed a suspect by continuing to shoot him unnecessarily after he was down. Half-Asian, he is also a Marine reservist and sniper.
Brendan Thomas is a new hire from 2016.
Peter’s mother Tina has retained the services of attorney Arnoldo Casillas, also representing for the family of Gustavo Najera (killed by APD officer German Alvarez in early 2016.) The Najera trial starts this Monday, and we will be covering it.
You can’t know.
You weren’t there.
He might have been reaching for his “waistband.”
The officer feared for his safety.
There was a gang connection.
He had a record.
No rush to judgement
Let the investigation take its course.
We can’t say anything because POBOR
etc., etc.
Don’t forget It’s time to put this tragedy behind us and move on, this is old news.
Usually uttered when the stonewalling has lasted over a year.
Updates on this tragedy?
Plenty. See below.
Law Enforcement faces numerous complex issues on a daily basis. When you look at any incident in isolation……the Black and White or Right and Wrong….seems usually all too clear and magnified.
So, here goes. Johnny stated out at 10, stealing the neighbor kids bike. Johnny thought
it would be fun to walk into Billy’s garage and take the bike for spin. When the little 11 year old girls gave him kudos…..he kept the bike for a couple of days more. Billy’s Dad contacted the local PD to let them know that the bike was missing. Johnny’s dad asked when he got the shiny new Schwinn Beach Cruiser and Johnny said that he found it a couple a blocks down on the side of the road – deserted! Johnny on the following day
took the bike and went to the park. Billy was there playing baseball with his dad. Ooops. The situation soon ramped up and the Police were called. Johnny’s dad met them down at the Police Station and before it was over……this “Johnny” was obviously headed for Juvenile Hall. From that day foreward Johnny was considered “a problem”. The forces at work included Johnny’s school district, the local Homeowners Association and of course the PTA and PD “watch list”.
The concept of this story is simple: Self Fulfilling Prophesy’s occur daily and affect people’s lives forever. How did Johnny turn out? Many could write their own accounts from a first person perspective. The reality is life is an accumulation of choices that each of make on a daily basis. Some would run from Police is stopped. Some would be squished by two or three 300 lbs Officers and die. Some will have anything in their possessions that could be considered “a weapon”, including a cell phone. Some will die because of their many poor prior decisions in life. Some will be politically taken out because someone got paid off. Some will wind up in court or prison for the rest of their lives. Some will apparently skate everytime something comes up. What will happen to Johnny today? Perhaps it will be a decision that Johnny makes along the way?
Tragic. Potentially infuriating.
Does anyone know what happened with the Police Review Board reported last December by OCR? https://www.ocregister.com/2017/12/04/anaheim-to-boost-civilian-oversight-of-police-department-in-the-wake-of-officer-involved-shootings/
Most recent report I can find is this one from February – https://www.anaheim.net/DocumentCenter/View/19768
-but despite 28 recommendations, I’ve no idea what’s happened and can’t find any details. I’d expect these folks to take a look at a blog report like this and respond.
I’d also expect every candidate for mayor of Anaheim would make a statement on it, but can’t find any. Most likely, they all support ‘some’ kind of board – but some prefer a toothless rubber stamp service stacked with their pals – while others might want something more useful.
When the new improved oversight board forms over the next couple months, they’ll have their work cut out for them.
And I hope ‘potentially infuriating’ isn’t interpreted as anything other than I don’t know what to think yet. This sounds really bad, but every officer shooting sounds bad. Every major incident damn well better be investigated, preferably not by people who are paid to find ‘no problem’ – or who have other strong professional/political/institutional incentives to believe the police.
*Yeah Don ….in the old days …you didn’t need a Citizens Police Review Board. You didn’t need Federal Consent Decree’s which created an oversight process that could last five to ten years depending on the depth of corruption or wrong doing. Yes Don…..we used to have Internal Affairs in every PD in the Nation, that reviewed in copious detail every contested event. Even stand police shootings….not killings were investigated. The Officers complete Arrest Record and Incident Record was gone over by at least a three party board of very knowledgeable Captains or Above that knew all the dirt in the entire city they reviewed. When Departments started going to recruiting outside of their cities or towns.,,,it became tougher to keep control. Many Officers that failed in one city wound up in another city….with their records exsponged or left with a record that consisted of only Accomodation Medals and referral letters. The point is, that the process for Internal Affairs needs to be “Pristine – Unpolitical and Forthright”,
Of course, where are you going to find those guys anymore?
Sure, Ron & Anna, but in the oldest old days, one guy hired the judge (and was usually happy with how they ruled). In the not so olden but still oldish old days a century or so ago, judges rode about on circuits – but in America, folks figured out when the judges sing for their suppers, they tend to favor the folks who pay.
I don’t know where you’re gonna find guys who are ‘pristine, unpolitical, and forthright.’ I’d settle for folks who aren’t institutionally or otherwise committed to finding one side innocent or guilty, and see where that gets us.
The recommendations in the Feb 2018 report looked well-thought through, but I know little about the actions taken since then, and haven’t seen that critiqued thoroughly, nor have I seen what the candidates for mayor have to say about it. I’m still new here, and am curious what closer observers with longer histories had seen. Three killings in a 40 day span? That sounds pretty bad.
HOPEFULLY only 1 killing – 2 are still hanging on in critical condition.
But not for lack of shooting!
Oops. Indeed, 3 shootings; hopefully 2 will not become ‘killings.’
I hope I don’t sound unsympathetic – Roy & Anna is (are?) right that a lot happens…someone’s gotta sift through claims with a critical eye – someone who won’t get paid for finding one way or the other. Would be great if we had some cognitive test to verify ‘purity’ or ‘impartiality’ – until that’s invented, I’d settle for budget independence.
Next time I see her (if there is a next time), I’ll ask Aitken where she stands. The candidates for Anaheim mayor ought to speak up about this: if they don’t, then we ought to assume they’re looking for ‘no board’ or ‘rubber stamp.’
The City recently selected the members of the new Oversight Committee, which was done through a lottery system to avoid favoritism or political appointments. I can’t speak for any of the other Mayoral candidates, but I will be closely watching the meetings of the Oversight group, and any findings on these incidents. Thanks for keeping us up to speed, Vern.
Cool, Cynthia – didn’t know that. A lottery is exactly the right way to constitute such a board.
*This is why we propose a higher bar for Internal Affairs for each department.
*Cynthia, A Civilian Citizens Oversight Committee? Hmmm, any of those members of prior service on other or same Police Dept’s? How about members that have relatives that work at Police Dept.’s or have relatives that have retired from the various PD”s? OK, how about Political Activists…..Community Organizers.. Prior service Electeds? How about Government Bureaucrats? Retired or Active? Just a few questions suggests that with a genuine and capable and self-purging Internal Affairs Dept. You might get even better results!
Civilians……have a tough time relating to the harsh realities of Police Work, which is not to say that they might be less logical or able to investigate issues. The truth is…..that the best counter to a bad cop – is a good cop!
Anaheim needs a new police chief – bring in new blood to reduce the blood.
Vern, you forgot to mention Peter Muntean was shot by Santa Ana PD in 2013 at the end of a pursuit where him and his accomplice were wanted for armed carjacking. It is the second entry on Google search for this criminal. The first is the most recent shooting by APD. Your article is a work of fiction. This guy is a career criminal who has made many poor choices in life.
Does it make any difference whether he’s a sinner or a saint? Are you suggesting that when the police were in a live fire scenario with immediate risk, they stopped to Google whether they guy they were shooting at had been shot before? If they even knew his identity at the time of the shooting? Or are you suggesting that because he’d been shot before, the police felt they needed to eliminate the ‘career criminal who has made many poor choices in life’? Sort of a ‘Dirty Harry’ routine, or more of a Judge Dredd?
Whatever the ultimate facts, all that matters is they’re carefully, zealously reviewed by impartial folks who do their best to find the truth. Prejudice, either guilt or innocence, either police or victim, helps no one do that.
For one he was with a girl he knew from school. She did a car jacking. He was getting a ride home to his friends house. He didn’t know the car was jacked until the police tried pulling them over. Why do you think he didn’t get far. He could barely see where he was going. Peter is legally blind, diaganosed with schizophrenia and psychosis.
Thursday night April 12 his mom called for a mental health team and the fire department. They sent the police. Peter was swearing there were people there trying to kill him. Him being blind didn’t recognize the cops. They were too far away. So he ran Thursday night. He can only see close up.
When the police found him Friday morning he had no shoes or socks on. His feet had sores from running all night. He lives on the border of Fullerton and made it all the way down by the station. He had been off his meds for 2 weeks. There was a problem where his mom couldn’t get it filled. Even his OC mental health worker is shocked and has visited him 3 times. She feels guilty because of all the mix up with not having his meds.
So unless you have came and talked to us his family, Please stop!
A blind guy carjacked a vehicle? A career criminal? Tell us more!
I am saying Vern’s description of this guy is fantasy. I question if this guy is really blind, he ran from Carl’s Jr to Citron/Seneca, I really don’t see a blind guy running a from the cops the day before and getting away. My issue is Vern’s portrayal of innocent blind victim who has never done anything wrong. I am not suggesting the police research anything during a dynamic evolving situation. I am suggesting calling a spade a spade.
Dollars to doughnuts this “Neil,” who’s made similar comments in the past, is one of those policemen who is paid good taxpayer money to protect and serve the public by trolling the internet all day.
And the police publicity machine’s first reflex after each killing is to dig up things in the victim’s past to convince the public that, even if the victim wasn’t doing anything wrong that day, it’s probably a good thing they got killed.
I didn’t know about this 2013 incident, his family and friends didn’t mention it; but I never said he “never did anything wrong in his life.” I pretty much said he wasn’t endangering anyone when he was gunned down. I see that he was CHARGED with these crimes when he was 19 and pleaded not guilty. I see that he was with a girl a year older who seems to have made most of the alleged mischief. As far as I know he was cleared of these charges, but it has nothing to do with Friday the 13th of 2018.
“Reckless driving?” Legally blind? Checks out.
I sure hope ‘Neil’ isn’t a police officer. The implication if he is one (or has been one) is pretty dire.
He was charged, pleaded not guilty, but was he convicted? Curious about final disposition: not because it’s the slightest bit relevant to what happened during this shooting, but because it speaks to Neil’s biases. We’ve elected presidents with more serious offenses than that, and quite a few other leaders. ‘Neil’ may even have voted for some of them. Bad character? Bah.
Well, we’ll know for sure about Neil when Wordsmith cashes his check from the APOA.
Remember Neil’s “excited delirium” diagnosis of Chris Eisinger?
Yeah, that really explained all the broken bones on one side of his skull.
I’m pretty sure it was excited delirium that made Cunningham pose Mexican votive candles around a mangled teddy bear as a gesture to “mock liberals.”
No doubt.
I haven’t been following this closely, so I may be a little confused. Is that Neil?
Heaven forfend! It is Matt Cunningham, the Kleptoscribe formerly known as Jerbal, in the throes of inspiration brought on by excited delirium.
I know why his blogs have been so dead the last week or two: he’s just unveiled his newest kleptoproject, the “job killer initiative” website, meant to counter our Disney Living Wage movement.
Typical Jerbal filaments of truth. The website never mentions that it would only apply to big businesses that are getting taxpayer subsidies and kickbacks.
Hilariously it claims that because of this businesses will pay LESS taxes and thus threaten public services.
But really what did anybody expect? Honesty?
There’ll have to be a new story and thread on this topic.
I’m deciding how to frame it. Someone told me that when I spend my time debunking the other side’s propaganda, I also accidentally amplify the propaganda. But I can’t just let it sit there. I have to find the right balance.
But let’s get this thread back to Peter and APD killings. Protest tonight at 6, at police station!
Neil,
Judgemental much? Who gave you the right to judge? You mean to tell me your perfect and never made any mistakes in your life?!
Peter had a past, like all of us do. His past has nothing to do with this. Regardless, he was not a murder. He was not a rapist…etc. He did not commit some crazy crime.
He was a troubled young man of just 24 years with all of his life ahead of him who got scared and ran for his life. He pleaded for mercy and asked for someone to help him. Yet, nobody helped him. Instead he was gunned down like an animal.
He was partially and legally blind. Sounds like there were some mental illnesses involved too. Yet, he was robbed of his life too soon and shot in the back; 2 times!!! TWO times!!! His spine shattered permanently. Left paralyzed from the chest down. Nobody derserves such an injustice.
Such a tradegy!!! He did absolutely nothing wrong to deserve such a fate. He was an innocent man. Robbed of his life way too soon. Two armed police men against one unarmed 24 year old young man. If this is the type of judgement our policemen use out there…We all should probably be in fear for our lives.
Today it was Peter, who is it going to be tomorow?!It can be any of us in Peter’s shoes! It can be any of our family members and any of our loved ones! YIKES, scary thought! Now, you tell me how that is fair that is and who deserves that???? Be careful when you go to sleep tonight lest some armed officers gun you down like qn animal for no reason….. RIP, Peter…..
Hey Vern, how about also protesting against all those that kill while Drunk Driving, like former LAPD Officer Edgar Verduzro
I’ve received the names of the two cops who chased down and shot Peter: APD officers Bartman Horn and Brendan Thomas. Presumably one of those officers knocked Peter down with the beanbag rifle, while the other shot him in the back and back of the head.
Bartman Horn was hired by the APD from the Pasadena Police in 2015, after a 2013 incident where he (coincidentally?) paralyzed a suspect by continuing to shoot him unnecessarily after he was down. https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2014/04/28/pasadena-man-shot-by-police-files-500000-claim-against-city/
Half-Asian, he is also a Marine reservist and sniper. http://behindthebadgeoc.com/cities/apd/anaheim-swears-second-deputy-chief-dan-cahill-named-newly-created-position
“The Cameraman” also had a recent unpleasant run-in with him after which the APD unusually admitted Horn’s “misconduct” – gotta get back to him on details.
Meanwhile Peter remains unable to to get his necessary surgery because of a severe staph infection, and has returned to asking to be taken off life support.
Peter was taken off life support this afternoon, at his own request, and passed away at 4:15.
As tempting as it may be to blame the Anaheim police for a “bad shoot”, it was Peters mental illness that did him in.
I am/was Peters friend. He was deeply troubled, he had a hard time (like many suffering mental illness) staying on and even finding the right mix of medications. I suspect he had been misdiagnosed as well.
In his dozens of interactions with authorities, was NEVER treated for what he was: sick. Case and point: a few summers ago, Peter violated his felony probation/parole four times in three months, of course this coincided with his refusing to take his meds.
Normally docile, I watched as my friend morphed into a psychotic maniac with a hammer, only to snap out of it when he smoked marijuana. This just how it is with people like Peter.
We need to as a society better understand this population.
I will continue to work with people like Peter Muntean, searching for answers. In the meantime, knee jerk accusations against police and family are best put aside.
I don’t see how any of this, even if it’s all true, justifies a policeman shooting him in the back and the back of the head when he was down and unarmed.
Art,
Show some respect man. Injustice was done to Peter; regardless of whatever angle you want to take. I too, knew Peter. He was a sweetheart.
Did he have a hard life, yes a very hard life…he was faced with many challenges. Regardless, he did the best he could with what was thrown his way.
He did not deserve what he got. SHOT IN THE BACK, NOT ONCE BUT TWICE!!! Really?! Paralyzed from the chest down as a result. It doesnt get anymore tragic then this.
There are People that comitted hard core crimes and none were treated with such injustice as Peter was. Peter was not a criminal yet was treated as one. God rest his soul.
RIP Peter. Missed so much. You are forever in our hearts. I love you man! See you in heaven one day.
RIP, Peter.
Thank you
“We need to as a society better understand this population.”
Fair enough. While trying to better understand this population, and while people like you work to search for answers, we need strict rules against shooting members of this group (or any other) – except when extremely limited circumstances apply.
Was Peter’s a saint? A sinner? Healthy? Sick? It’s irrelevant now; he’s deceased – God will judge him accordingly. What is left for us to determine is whether those who did the shooting followed the rules. The living must judge the conduct of the living.
Great points- Donovan!
Thanks, Mr. Fox, and thank you for anything you did on Peter’s behalf. If you were Peter’s friend, then we should be grateful for any efforts you made for him – regardless of how his story ended.
There is certainly a time and place to remember the sick, to reflect upon what that means, what they meant, to mourn. If I seem insensitive, it’s because I cannot mourn a man I never knew, and so instead I ponder what we do about the living called to our defense as a concerned outsider.
POLICE BRUTALITY NEEDS TO STOP! May Justice be served on Peter’s behalf. Peter, Im so sorry about the wrongs that were done to you.You were shown no dignity as a human being (no mercy) and as result I’m truely sorry for the cruel and unjust suffering you endured and that your life was cut so short. Your life mattered. May you rest in peace. Much Love. Much Respect for you.
So wrong. So unetical. The man was down on the floor and was overpowered by two armed officers. Then shot in the back twice. :/ rip
The police took one young life away from me and my family..my question is why him? Legally blind? Shoot twice. by two polices ..why..?
I’ve tried to look at this from all angles and I’ve concluded that we were not there…we dont know everything that happened and we cant say one way or another.
I approved this comment even though I doubt it comes from a real person. If it is a real person, this is way too complacent of an attitude for an American citizen to have when their police take a life questionably, and is way too common of an attitude as well. “The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Do Nothing.”
Sure we don’t know everything that happened. That much more reason we should demand to know.
What we do know:
Peter was shot in the back and the back of the head, after being knocked down by a beanbag round.
He obviously had his back to the fatal shooter.
And he was obviously unarmed at the time and not dangerous.
They say a b-b gun was found 40 feet away. That’s not dangerous, and we don’t know if it was even his.
All of this is enough for us citizens to suspect the killing was unnecessary, and at least “excessive force.” There are sadly plenty of people who think like this “Michelle,” but given the lack of identification (only an IP address) “Michelle” is more likely to be a police troll.
So very sad about Peter. I was his teacher for a time in the County’s ACCESS program. He was going blind He was a frustrated reader. I printed some large print pages for him, but basically he had to listen to the discussion. I went to his IEP to prepare him to go back to his regular school. He was bright, and motivated. Hopeful.
Always sad to read about a former student. I always think we can do more for these kids. We need more non profit, volunteer afterschool tutoring programs like THINK Together and Save Our Youth in Costa Mesa.
Wow. Small county. Thanks for sharing, Wendy.
Thank you so much this is his mom 657 456 1629
I had an inncident with trigger happy thug vigilante in late 2013 were i was falsely accused harrasing girl he and another slammed to to the sidewalk and grab me by my mouth while i was handcuffed and he basically threatened my life in the pasadena ca holding cell