Officer cleared in shooting

An off-duty Costa Mesa police officer was within his right to shoot a man high on stimulants last year when the man lunged at another off-duty officer with scissors, San Bernardino County prosecutors announced Thursday.

Authorities determined that Costa Mesa police Officer Matt Olin and Huntington Beach police Lt. Robert Lindsey were defending themselves Aug. 17 when Daniel Pettit, 23, a transient, took over a Dairy Queen in Ludlow and would not cooperate with police instructions.

According to the San Bernardino District Attorney’s report summarizing the incident, Pettit walked into the Dairy Queen and asked to use the phone. Employees who said he was acting “strange� refused.

That’s when Pettit grabbed a screwdriver and said he was going to “start something,� officials said. Unbeknownst to Pettit, Lindsey, Olin and three other off-duty officers were inside the Dairy Queen, too. While everyone else fled the building, the report states they all went to their cars to grab their weapons.

Prosecutors said Olin and Lindsey approached Pettit, identified themselves as police officers and demanded he put down the screwdriver. Pettit eventually complied, then picked up scissors and clenched them in his fist with the sharp end protruding from below his pinkie, according to the report. Not heeding officers’ warnings, officials said he lunged at Lindsey, who fired two shots. Olin shot at Pettit once. Pettit was hit in the thumbs, leg and shoulder.

“Lt. Lindsey had a right to defend himself from getting stabbed by the suspect,� the report stated. “Officer Olin had a right to protect Lt. Lindsey from getting stabbed.�

Reporter JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].