Collision Course

Department spokesperson Van Pelt referred questions to the written policy while declining to comment on any training that deputies receive regarding the confrontation of suspects in moving cars. By contrast, Mike Thaler, HPD executive assistant chief, was forthcoming. "They are instructed to not stand in front of a vehicle that is approaching," he said. "The basic training is, basically, get out of the way."

But regardless of academy instruction, the split-second decision of whether to shoot at two tons of approaching steel is still incredibly difficult, said Christensen. "The only thing they can know is that [a driver] is trying to kill them," he said. "A guy that takes his car and floorboards it and tries to run over you, my God, that's scary."

Nevertheless, Kallinen said, such shootings are almost never justified. "Bullets don't stop cars," he said. "They only kill the driver."

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Available evidence shows Long probably didn't need to shoot Garcia to save his own life, Kallinen argued.

He recently hired Roger Clark, a retired Los Angeles police lieutenant, to examine the van driven by Garcia. Clark reassembled its broken windshield and found no indication that a bullet had pierced it. He also found no bullet holes in the driver's seat or elsewhere in the van.

Based on the evidence, Clark said Long possibly fired through the driver's-side window, or perhaps shot Garcia before he climbed into the van.

"Clearly, if the officer is on the side shooting into the van, there is no possibility he could be in physical danger," Clark added. "And you do not take a human life to prevent an escape under these circumstances."

Kallinen talked of encountering repeated obstacles in his efforts to access evidence. He said that when he requested to see the van, he was initially told it was out of the department's hands. It was later tracked down to an open-air impoundment lot with a blood-covered shirt on the driver's seat.

And Kallinen still hasn't seen Garcia's autopsy report, which could contain information crucial in determining how he was shot. The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office had routinely made such reports available in the past. But when Kallinen asked for Garcia's report two months ago, he was told the office had a new policy to withhold those records at the request of local law enforcement agencies.

Officials said grand juries conduct independent reviews of police shootings, although action against officers is rare in Harris County. HPD officer Arthur J. Carbonneau was indicted last month in the shooting of a Houston teenager during a scuffle at an apartment complex. It was the first murder charge against an officer in more than a decade.

Grand jurors go easy on cops because they're allowed to believe they have special rights, said criminal defense lawyer Jolanda Jones. "The job they have is really dangerous," she said, "and it's unwritten that what would get other people indicted doesn't get police officers indicted."

But especially when hostile drivers are involved, Christensen said, people should consider the uncertainties with which deputies contend. "You don't know what the hell you're facing there," he said. "When a guy makes a conscious decision to take a car and run over you, you've got a problem."