[CA] Officer Mendez fired after gun crimes against his ex and her friends

...He then pulled the driver out of the vehicle, threw her to the ground and fired more shots into the air before hitting and kicking his ex-girlfriend and the third victim... The officer has been fired...

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[CA] Officer Mendez not in jail after shooting multiple times at his girlfriend and her passengers - ...[Long Beach police officer Orlando] Mendez, 26, of Anaheim is now facing multiple violent felony counts, including [aggravated] assault with a deadly weapon, firing a handgun from his vehicle, corporal injury on a spouse, and ...brandishing a handgun and domestic violence assault...

Ex-officer's case delayed
COURTS: Former LBPD rookie Orlando Mendez, 26, is accused of assaulting a previous girlfriend, two others with gun.
Long Beach Press-Telegram
By Kelly Puente kelly.puente@presstelegram.com
Posted: 12/03/2008
LONG BEACH - A former Long Beach Police officer charged with assaulting his ex-girlfriend and two of her friends with a gun appeared in the North Justice Center in Fullerton on Wednesday to face multiple felony charges. Arraignment for Orlando Mendez, a 26-year-old Anaheim resident and an LBPD rookie at the time, was postponed until Tuesday. Mendez is accused of assault with a gun, discharging a gun with gross negligence, brandishing a gun at a person in a motor vehicle and one misdemeanor count of domestic violence battery. He faces a maximum sentence of 16 years and four months in state prison. On Oct. 20, Mendez, who was off duty, allegedly went driving through Anaheim in search of his ex-girlfriend, who had taken a rental car from him a few days earlier, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office. District attorney's spokeswoman Farrah Emami said the officer spotted his ex-girlfriend riding in the rental car with two female friends on Harbor Boulevard at 3:30 a.m. He allegedly followed the women, pointed a gun in their direction and ordered them to pull over, Emami said. A chase ensued, and the driver of the rental car eventually pulled over. Mendez allegedly fired shots into the air as he walked up to the victims, Emami said. He then pulled the driver out of the vehicle, threw her to the ground and fired more shots into the air before hitting and kicking his ex-girlfriend and the third victim, Emami added. The women were able to escape and call 911. When officers arrived, Mendez identified himself as a police officer, was stripped of his weapon and taken into custody without further incident. Mendez graduated from the Long Beach Police Academy in April and had barely six months on the job before the incident, authorities said. The officer has been fired. "Police officers are not above the law and we take this very seriously," LBPD spokeswoman Karen Owens told the Press-Telegram in October. "Clearly his behavior is not consistent with the standards we hold for our officers and this type of behavior is completely unacceptable." [LINK]