Gaut case should never go to trial

By: JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer | Wednesday, October 25, 2006 6:57 PM PDT ∞

Five years? We're going to talk about sending Lisa Maree Gaut, a 26-year-young woman, to prison for five years in the Steve Foley case? This after the off-duty Coronado police officer (and Escondido resident) who shot the Chargers linebacker admitted under oath that he never displayed his badge to Foley or Gaut the night of the shooting?

Look, I'm one of the biggest supporters our police officers have. It's tough, dangerous work, and every day every officer puts her or his life on the line for the rest of us.

They protect my children, my property, my peace of mind.

And I'm grateful.

But at the same time, when an off-duty officer makes the decision to insert himself into a situation out of his jurisdiction ---- as Officer Aaron Mansker surely did ---- he assumes the obligation to ensure he does so by the book.

In today's celebrity-crazed culture, to assume ---- as, again, Mansker surely did ---- that a person in civilian clothes waving a gun while chasing a professional athlete in the middle of the night will be recognized as an off-duty police officer is not only naive, it is ---- as Foley's three gunshot wounds prove ---- dangerous.

Mansker admitted at an Oct. 18 preliminary hearing for Gaut (who is being charged with allegedly trying to run Mansker down during the confrontation with Foley) that he never showed Gaut or Foley his badge. Instead, he showed them his gun.

Yes, we are all compelled to cooperate with law officers who are going about their duties. But those officers are compelled to take reasonable steps to identify themselves before they can expect our cooperation. Drawing your gun and pointing it at people while not in uniform is not such a step ---- particularly in the case of someone like Foley, who might certainly have expectation of being a target of crazy fans. Celebrity stalkers are hardly rare in the world of professional sports.

In fact, Mansker's failure to display his badge is so far from reasonable behavior that it's difficult to see how Superior Court Judge Frederick Maguire could possibly have bound Gaut over for trial on charges of assault with a deadly weapon (the car).

Someone pulls a gun on you, you have every legal (and moral) right to defend yourself ---- unless, of course, it's a sworn law officer. But clearly, anyone can pull a gun and claim to be such an officer.

An off-duty police officer in street clothes, in an unmarked car would seem to have the onus of clearly identifying him or herself as an officer.

In fact, in California, we have the right to demand not only to see an officer's badge, but his official photo identification issued by his department to ascertain that he really is a legal agent of the government.

Mansker's admission that he never properly identified himself should have killed the charges against Gaut (except the driving under the influence count).

Now a young woman faces losing five years of her life for trying to defend herself and a friend from some stranger waving a gun?

It's sad that a jury will have to waste its time hearing such a case.

-- Contact staff writer Jim Trageser at (760) 631-6628 or jtrageser@nctimes.com.

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