[CA] Police Chief's wife Brinda McCoy on trial for shooting at police officers

TRIAL IN PROGRESS:

People vs. Brinda Sue McCoy, Case Number 10CF3399.

PREVIOUS POST:
[CA] Police Chief McCoy's wife Brinda to face trial for shooting towards officers - Brinda Sue McCoy, 47, who is married to Oceanside Police Chief Frank McCoy, called 911 and said she needed help... When the Cypress Police Dept. arrived at her home, she refused to come out and put the gun to her head. According to the District Attorney's Office she then fired the gun twice at officers...

Brinda is the wife of Oceanside Police Chief Frank McCoy Jr. and the photo above is her current Facebook profile picture. The articles don't mention the presence or absence of her husband in court (?) but it would seem they may be trying to get through this - and that the media is trying to leave him out of it (?) - but he's clearly an influencing factor of how things have gone so far.

In public comments online of course folks are noticing a double standard - that a regular citizen would have been killed instead of bean-bagged like Brinda. Most of us would like to see equal compassion for others in distress. So what is the formula and what's next? (Remember Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Franklin Adderley 's wife Eleanor Adderley?) We will have to see how this works out in the end.

"It all begins on Dec. 16, 2010, with the defendant's decision to call 911," Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Olivieri said. [Brinda] McCoy allegedly "test fired" her husband's duty weapon about 7:10 p.m., prompting her neighbor Diana Orr to call McCoy, Olivieri said. McCoy responded, "Why the (expletive) are you calling me? What the (expletive) do you want? I've had it"... McCoy also allegedly told her neighbor she "would fire at police to have them gun her down"... McCoy refused to leave her house and pointed a firearm at her head and the ceiling before pointing it directly at the officers. "I don't care," was her response when warned if she fired the weapon she could injure officers, Olivieri said... In her last exchange with a police dispatcher McCoy said: "You know what? Don't f------ call me anymore," Olivieri said. Moments after that, McCoy fired another shot at officers positioned behind vehicles outside her home... Brinda Sue McCoy came out the front door but did not show her hands when officers asked her to, saying instead "f------ shoot me"...

Brinda's defense attorney presented that she was depressed after a family argument about their son, her husband left with their son but left his Semiautomatic Sig Sauer .45-caliber, she took a newly prescribed anti-depressant, had dinner and a martini and never "in a million years" intended to hurt any officers. "She exercised very poor judgment," he said.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
WOMAN FACES TRIAL FOR SHOOTING AT POLICE OFFICERS AFTER CALLING 911 FOR HELP AND INITIATING STAND-OFF
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Tony Rackauckas, District Attorney
Case # 10CF3399
May 24, 2012

SANTA ANA – A woman faces trial today for shooting at responding police officers after calling 911 and initiating stand-off. Brinda Sue McCoy, 49, Cypress, is charged with six felony counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm on a peace officer and one felony count of discharging a firearm with gross negligence with sentencing enhancements for the personal discharge of a firearm. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 61 years and eight months in state prison. Opening statements are expected to begin today, Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. in Department C-45, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.

At approximately 7:00 p.m. on Dec. 16, 2010, McCoy is accused of calling 911 and stating she needed police assistance. Cypress Police Department officers responded to the defendant’s home and attempted to get McCoy to come out of her residence.

McCoy is accused of refusing to leave her house, pointing a firearm at her head and the ceiling before pointing it directly at the police officers outside. The officers warned the defendant that, if she fired her weapon, she could hurt one of the officers positioned behind vehicles in front of her house. Despite this warning, McCoy is accused of firing the gun twice from inside her home at police officers who were stationed behind two parked vehicles outside.

Special Weapons and Tactics officers used less-than lethal force to subdue and arrest the defendant.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Olivieri of the Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting this case. [LINK]

OCEANSIDE: ASSAULT TRIAL BEGINS FOR POLICE CHIEF'S WIFE
North County Times
By Paul Anderson
May 24, 2012
[Excerpts] The wife of Oceanside police chief and former Cypress City Councilman Frank McCoy threatened suicide by cop several times and fired her husband's service weapon at Cypress police twice during a standoff that lasted hours in December 2010, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday. But Brinda Sue McCoy's attorney told jurors in the opening statements for her trial Thursday that while she is guilty of shooting the gun, the evidence will show she did not intend to hurt any of the police officers... McCoy allegedly "test fired" her husband's duty weapon about 7:10 p.m., prompting her neighbor Diana Orr to call McCoy, [Special Prosecutions Unit Senior Deputy District Attorney Rebecca] Olivieri said. McCoy responded, "Why the (expletive) are you calling me? What the (expletive) do you want? I've had it," according to Olivieri. McCoy also allegedly told her neighbor she "would fire at police to have them gun her down"... McCoy called 911 and told the dispatcher "she wants to be taken out of her misery"... McCoy paced through the house and at times pointed the gun out the window of her home... Several times, McCoy demanded police move her son's pickup truck, behind which some officers had taken position... McCoy eventually fired the gun at the truck... One officer, who was a friend of the family, tried to talk McCoy into surrendering and warned her that officers were behind the truck she was threatening to shoot at... "I don't care. Move the truck or I will shoot," McCoy responded, according to Olivieri... Defense attorney Lew Rosenblum told jurors that McCoy had been suffering from depression and had a prescription for Wellbutrin, but it was not working, so her physician put her on Klonopin... McCoy, who was a nurse and knew many of the officers who responded, threatened to shoot the gun at the truck because she wanted her other son, who is an adult and a Long Beach police officer, to leave the area so he wouldn't see her get shot by police, Rosenblum said... [Full article here]

BRINDA SUE MCCOY, WIFE OF TOP OCEANSIDE COP AND FORMER CYPRESS MAYOR, FACES 61 YEARS AS ARMED STAND-OFF TRIAL BEGINS
Orange County / OCWeekly
By Matt Coker
Thu., May 24 2012 at 10:45 AM
[Excerpts] The wife of Oceanside's police chief (and Cypress' former mayor) is scheduled to face a trial - heck, right now -for calling 9-1-1 and initiating an armed stand-off with Cypress police in December 2010... ... Refusing to leave her house, Ms. McCoy allegedly pointed a semi-automatic firearm at her head and the ceiling before pointing it directly at the police officers outside. Unlike, say, everyone else in the world, the cops did not immediately take her out but instead warned her that if she fired her weapon, she could hurt one of the officers. McCoy is accused of responding by firing the gun twice from inside her home at police officers who were stationed behind two parked vehicles outside. Unlike, say, every breathing being in the universe, McCoy was subdued through the use of "less-than lethal force" by Special Weapons and Tactics officers. [Full article here]

POLICE CHIEF’S WIFE ACCUSED OF SHOOTING AT CYPRESS OFFICERS DURING TRIAL’S OPENING STATEMENTS
89.3 KPCC
By Don Frances
May 24, 2012
[Excerpts] On an evening in late 2010 in the town of Cypress, one person was causing major trouble for law enforcement: the police chief’s wife... In their opening statement this morning, prosecutors told an Orange County jury that Ms. [Brinda Sue] McCoy called 911 for help, then fired at officers when they arrived, told the dispatcher not to call her anymore, then squeezed off another round at the police outside, the Orange County Register reports... Frank McCoy’s bio on the Oceanside Police Department website states that he has served eight years on the Cypress City Council. It also states that “Chief McCoy is married to his wife Brinda and has five children.” The trial is sparking controversy over the way police handle dangerous or unstable people in standoff situations, with some seeing a double standard... [Full article here]

PROSECUTOR: CHIEF'S WIFE SHOT TWICE AT COPS
The Orange County Register
By Vik Jolly
Published: May 24, 2012
[Excerpts] A woman used her police chief husband's semiautomatic handgun to test-fire a shot and later fired twice at Cypress police officers responding to her 911 telephone call for help, a prosecutor told an Orange County jury Thursday. More than 1½ hour after the call, with numerous officers outside her home on the evening of Dec. 16, 2010, Brinda Sue McCoy came out the front door but did not show her hands when officers asked her to, saying instead "f------ shoot me," Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Olivieri said in her opening statement... In her last exchange with a police dispatcher McCoy said: "You know what? Don't f------ call me anymore," Olivieri said. Moments after that, McCoy fired another shot at officers positioned behind vehicles outside her home despite being told repeatedly not to shoot because officers could get hurt, the prosecutor told jurors in Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno's courtroom. [Defense attorney Lew] Rosenblum said his client should be convicted of discharging a firearm with gross negligence but the two shots she fired 20 minutes apart through a window were not "in a million years" intended to injure any officers. "She exercised very poor judgment," he said. Authorities made a bad situation worse by lying to McCoy, who wanted her Long Beach police officer son's truck moved from in front of her house, Rosenblum contended... That afternoon, McCoy argued with her teenage son for having excused himself from school by calling there pretending to be his father, the defense attorney said. Already having emotional problems and battling severe depression, she despaired when her husband sided with their 16-year-old and left with him, Rosenblum said... She dialed 911, but later told police to never mind... A neighbor who is expected to testify heard a test shot McCoy fired and called McCoy to make sure she was safe, the prosecutor said. McCoy told the neighbor she was waiting for police to come shoot her, saying she would fire so they would shoot her down. "I'm f------ tired of this," she said to the neighbor, Olivieri said. She asked responding officers to get their lights off her house and threatened to fire out of a house window, the prosecutor said. McCoy moved about the house and at one point opened a patio door, let her dogs in, drew the blinds, put the lights down in the living room and sat with the gun in her hand at the kitchen table, the prosecutor said. McCoy refused to leave her house and pointed a firearm at her head and the ceiling before pointing it directly at the officers. "I don't care," was her response when warned if she fired the weapon she could injure officers, Olivieri said... [Full article here]

SINCE LAST POST - FROM JANUARY 2011:

[UPDATED] BRINDA SUE MCCOY IN DEEP DOODOO AND LUCKY TO BE ALIVE: WIFE OF OCEANSIDE POLICE CHIEF AND FORMER CYPRESS MAYOR ACCUSED OF SHOOTING AT COPS
By Matt Coker
Mon., Jan. 31 2011
[Excerpts] ...As officers pleaded with her to surrender, she paced inside the home between the window and the front door, at times pointing the gun at her head and, at other times, at officers. She eventually fired a shot at a Long Beach Police Department truck in her driveway that officers had taken cover behind, reports the Times, which notes her son is a Long Beach officer and her husband was a commander there before coming to Oceanside. Officers fearing for their lives retreated to find better cover, and McCoy is accused of later firing a second round that struck a Toyota Prius, shattering its front passenger window. Hours after it began, the standoff ended when the woman stepped outside, and SWAT officers shot her in the chest with a beanbag shotgun. She was immediately arrested, then taken to a local hospital for evaluation before being moved to a psychiatric hospital. The order to remove all guns from the McCoy home came over the objections of defense attorney David Diamond, according to the Times. They are next due in court March 18 for a pretrial hearing. One often hears about guns stolen from gun owners eventually being used against cops. Whoever imagined a cop's gun would be used against them? By a cop's wife? Allegedly. [Full article here]

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