DA's Office: Upland officer-involved death justified

The San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office has ruled that sheriff's deputies' use of force was lawful and justified during the April 24, 2008 death of Anthony Roland Rodriguez, 35, following a high-speed chase.

Sheriff's deputies fired 13 shots at Rodriguez, hitting him four times, after Rodriguez rammed a patrol car in Upland and sped toward another group of deputies, according to the district attorney's office's summary of their investigation.

Rodriguez's death was caused not by the gunshot wounds, but by blunt-force trauma to his chest when his car crashed into a 210 Freeway soundwall near Mountain Avenue following the deputies' shots, ruled the doctor who performed the autopsy for the Riverside County Coroner's Office.

Here is the DA's Office's full 16-page investigation summary: ARodriguezreport.pdf