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Officer back on duty
By JIM HARRINGTON
Article published on Thursday, April 6, 2006 |
CLEARWATER – The city police department’s Shooting Review Board has ruled that a detective’s life was in danger when he shot a man outside a nightclub on March 12.
A separate investigation by the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s office has ruled the death of Guillermo Nicolas-Rafael, 22, a justifiable homicide.
Detective Steven Corrao, a 7-year veteran of the Clearwater police department, was working an extra-duty assignment on March 11 at Jose’s Mexican Restaurant at 2097 Drew St. when he heard an alert on his police radio that authorities were looking for a white Mercury Grand Marquis with green paint marks and a missing license plate, the result of a road rage incident in which Nicolas-Rafael intentionally rammed another vehicle on U.S. 19 at 11:40 p.m. on March 11.
According to a news release, police believe that Nicolas-Rafael was also involved in an attempted strong-arm robbery in the parking lot of Jose’s at about 1 a.m., but the man didn’t want to file a report when approached by Corrao.
At 1:17 a.m. Corrao spotted a car matching the one issued in the alert and approached the vehicle. He saw three occupants in the car, including two teenagers, and radioed for back up. He then started to inspect the vehicle, which also had a missing license plate, the news release said.
Corrao then told the driver, a 14-year-old named Uriel Baltazar, to turn off the vehicle and he complied. Corrao noticed that the rear seat passenger had a gun and he ordered the man to show him his hands.
According to the news release from police spokesman Wayne Shelor, two teenagers “told investigators that Nicolas-Rafael told the 14-year-old to “Drive off” and “Run over the cop”
After shouting orders to the man with the gun and radioing to dispatch that he was dealing with an armed man, Corrao opened the rear door, saw the man’s gun clutched at his waist and yanked him out of the car.
The two struggled and at one point Nicolas-Rafael pointed the gun at the officer’s face. Nicolas-Rafael and Corrao, who had a city issued sidearm, started to grapple. Nicolas-Rafael tried to reach for Corrao’s gun and pulled the trigger of his own gun.
Corrao broke free and fired four shots at Nicolas-Rafael. He fell to the ground but raised his gun to shoot Corrao, who then fired two more shots.
Nicolas-Rafael was pronounced dead at the scene by Clearwater fire department paramedics.
An autopsy determined that Nicolas-Rafael had a blood alcohol content between .188 and .207, the release said. There was cocaine present in his urine, Shelor’s release said.
The statements by Baltazar and the other youth, Pedro Pena-Mejay, 17, dovetailed with the sequence of events, Shelor said. They are not expected to be charged in relation to the shooting.
Corrao has returned to duty.
“This was emotional for a lot of people,” said Shelor in a telephone call.
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Article published on Thursday, April 6, 2006
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