Albert Covarrubias Jr., a Santa Maria police officer, was fatally shot early last Saturday while fellow police were trying to arrest him.By Nicholas Stix
Note the pathetic character of the defenses of Albert Covarrubias Jr. People who went to school with him 12 years ago, expect us to buy the notion that: 1. It’s unbelievable that a man from a criminal “culture,” in which child-rape, corruption, and gangsterism are the norms would conform to those norms; and 2. That his death was somehow the fault of the cops he fired on, rather than his own lawlessness.
Covarrubias’ old classmates’ rationalizations are worthless on their own terms, but tell us plenty about their lawless, gangster world.
One Internet commenter suggested that Covarrubias’ victim might have blown the whistle on him out of revenge, when he went and re-married—another woman.
I wonder what else we should know about a man who would commit statutory rape, intimidate witnesses, and die shooting it out with his supposed brother cops, before he would permit himself to be taken into custody. Albert Covarrubias Jr. reeks of gangster, but incurious, unskeptical “journalists” are unlikely to do any digging.
Santa Maria officer's friends struggle with account of his death
They recall the man who was killed during his own arrest as an 'awesome person.'
By Steve Chawkins
January 31, 2012
Los Angeles Times
SANTA MARIA, CALIF. — Friends of a police officer killed during his arrest for alleged sex crimes were racked with disbelief Monday -- at the charges as much as the fatal outcome.
They gathered at a street-corner shrine, remembering Albert Covarrubias Jr., 29, as a man far different from the one portrayed by his bosses after he was fatally shot by a fellow officer while police tried to arrest him a few blocks from department headquarters.
Police suspected Covarrubias, who reportedly was wed for a second time just a few weeks ago, of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old high school girl.
Officers were attempting to detain him early Saturday as his shift ended and he was dismantling a DUI checkpoint, Santa Maria Police Chief Danny Macagni said at a somber weekend news conference. Covarrubias struggled with his colleagues, fired his own gun and was shot in return, the chief said.
In addition to suspecting Covarrubias of having a sexual relationship with a minor, Santa Maria police investigators believed that witnesses in the case were being intimidated, Macagni said at the news conference. The chief was unavailable for comment Monday, and other Santa Maria officers said only he was authorized to speak about the situation.
On Monday, friends who attended Santa Maria High School with Covarrubias voiced skepticism about the official account.
"I just don't believe what they say," said Tiffany Almaguer, 29. "It just doesn't sound right."
Why, she asked, arrest a uniformed officer in public while he's on duty?
"Even in retail, if you're suspected of shoplifting, you're called to the office," she said. "He came to work and he was ambushed."
The shooting is being investigated by the Santa Maria Police Department and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department, a standard procedure in shootings by officers.
Sheriff's spokesman Drew Sugars said he didn't know when the investigation would be complete. He also said he wasn't certain whether investigators would look at Covarrubias' alleged crimes.
At the makeshift shrine near the shooting scene, friends of Covarrubias recalled him as the class clown. "He was an awesome person," Almaguer said. "He was hilarious -- in capital letters."
Fabiela Frausto, 29, had trouble believing the accusations against her high school pal. "That wasn't the person we knew him to be," she said.
The shooting was the second in seven weeks by officers in the agricultural city.
Last December, police officers fatally shot Samyr Ceballos, suspected of being a drug dealer, after a brief pursuit. Two officers were wounded by friendly fire, Macagni said in the wake of that shooting. The Sheriff's Department's investigation is ongoing.
steve.chawkins@latimes.com
[Thanks to reader-researcher RC, who notes: Sex with underage girls is the social norm in Mexico. North of the border it is illegal and frowned upon.]
he wasnt my friend, but i went to school with him and he damn sure was never a gangster. i was part of that group and i know for a fact that he was never the type. he was like a classs clown/loud/nerdy type dude. kind of annoying but thats the wort thing i could say about him.
ReplyDeleteIf that's the way he was then, he's sure changed a lot since.
ReplyDeleteIf you went to school with him then you should be around the same age, have you not grown or changed at all since high school?
ReplyDeleteAt 23, I am much different than how people viewed me in high school.