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Uploaded: Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 3:22 PM
Witness describes an aggressive Alvarez
Woman describes how Officer Richard May backed up as Alberto Alvarez moved toward him
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by Sue Dremann
Palo Alto Online Staff
Alberto Alvarez moved aggressively forward while East Palo Alto Police Officer Richard May retreated in the seconds before Alvarez fatally shot May, a witness said Tuesday morning.
Virginia Rodriguez, a petite, Spanish-speaking woman, provided compelling testimony and the most complete picture yet of May's shooting death on Jan. 7, 2006, in East Palo Alto.
Through an interpreter, Rodriguez told a San Mateo County Superior Court jury that she saw two men struggling in a driveway on Weeks Street as she looked out her apartment living room window.
Alvarez is on trial to determine whether he "executed" May as alleged or was responding defensively to an aggressive police pursuit. His attorneys have stipulated that he killed May, but the outcome could determine whether he might receive the death penalty or up to life in prison.
Rodriguez said at first she thought the men were playing or fighting.
She said the man she later identified as Alvarez moved between two cars -- a white truck and an older Oldsmobile parked in the driveway at 579 Weeks, three doors up and across the street from her apartment.
He went toward the house and moved into the corner between the front bumper of the Oldsmoblie and the garage door, she said.
May also moved between the cars but went only a short distance toward Alvarez, she said.
Alvarez then moved toward May, who backed up behind the cars, closer to the street, she said.
Alvarez advanced toward the officer, to the middle of the driveway between the cars, near the truck's back bumper.
"They were within arm's reach of each other. They tried to grab each other again. I saw the second person (May) take some steps back. He went backwards and fell backwards. ... He fell on his back," she said.
Rodriguez said she then noticed May was wearing a badge and realized he was a police officer.
Her children entered the apartment and said they heard gunshots, she said.
Rodriguez said she saw Alvarez start to leave and go toward the street.
"Then he came back and shot (May) again," she said.
Alvarez stood at May's feet as the officer lay on the pavement and pointed his arm at a 45-degree angle toward May's upper body and fired more than one shot, she said.
"You could see a pool of blood after, ... a whole lot of blood," she said.
On cross examination, Rodriguez gave confusing testimony about whether she heard the first barrage of shots or was told by her children.
Defense Attorney Charles Robinson tried to challenge her testimony and called into question conflicting statements she made to a grand jury and to inspectors.
"What you told the officers that night was the truth?" he asked.
"Yes. But on that piece of paper there were a lot of things I didn't say," she said, referring to her police statement.
"Did it look to you like the man was trapped?," he asked. Rodriguez said it did.
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Posted by Cynthia Davis, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Oct 29, 2009 at 9:58 am This story is depressing, the thought of that poor officer dying like that trying to protect the community. It's not fair, he was doing his job!
These damn fake thugs in EPA sicken me everyday! Trying so hard to prove something to people that don't even care about them. The gang mentality in EPA is absolutely pitiful! Examples of real gangsters I assume would be in LA, Chicago, Harlem, etc.
I am often embarassed to say I am a citizen of EPA, because of the desperation for attention here, the police actually do a really good job here as opposed to the 70's and 80's, when we were unincorporated and had hardly any police presence. All we had then, were the overworked and underpaid Redwood City police.
My heart goes out to this officer's loved ones.
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Posted by Truth, a resident of another community, on Oct 29, 2009 at 1:28 pm Fake thugs? I think you should probably acknowledge the crime that takes place in East Palo Alto daily. The drugs sold on countless blocks: crack cocaine, powder cocaine, ecstasy, chrystal meth, heroin, weed, etc. People shooting each other, stealing, robbing, etc. There ARE quite a few fake thugs in EPA and there are also a lot of others who are willing to handle their problems by any means necessary. All I'm saying is don't focus on other places and try to downplay the problems going on in your backyard. There's nothing fake about somebody getting shot in the head. Apparently it happens quite a bit out there. And for the record, I actually think EPA is a nice little city with somewhat of a bad rap. But you can't ignore the guns and the drugs. Those two things need to be minimized dramatically before EPA ever starts to thrive like it should.
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Posted by epa 94303, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Dec 22, 2009 at 7:59 pm i do feel sorry for the officer mays family but in reality when someones dies close to you in life that person wants to remeber the good moments and good things about that person not the bad moments but did mays family really knew what officer may was in the line of duty?? i think not officer may was a crocket cop pulling over people who he knew had a rap sheet just to mess with them and hrasse them boy if they just knew....
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Posted by Toni Stark, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Dec 29, 2009 at 4:45 pm We have a few people here in this city that know about the serious problem that has occured over the 30 years in EPA. Crime has always been promoted by the youth, polictians always down-play or look the other way, and the police force overworked-under-trained and some times corrupt. I have watched this issue for some time and tried to intervene on some of the cases I could make a change in. Some have worked, others well we are reading about one of those. So people of this city you must make a personal choice to make a change in yourself and in the youth in your circle. The times of the GUN is coming to a end do not be on the end of the barrel when it happens.
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