By Neil Farrell
A Morro Bay police officer has been cleared of wrong doing in an officer-involved shooting last October, the District Attorney said.
District Attorney Dan Dow’s office had been in charge of the investigation into the Oct. 30, 2015 shooting in the leg of a transient man by Sr. Ofc. Dale Cullum while resisting arrest for an earlier commercial burglary.
The suspect, Alec Bryan Stephenson, 20, was wounded and has since recovered. He was charged with assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and burglary.
Stephenson was initially declared mentally unfit to stand trial and has spent several months taking drug therapy treatment. He was recently cleared to stand trial.
Asked for an update by The Bay News, D.A. Dow said, “We concluded our investigation and review of the officer involved shooting. Our conclusion is that the officer’s actions in using deadly force [a gun versus a Taser] were lawful. The matter is closed and we will not be issuing a public report.”
MBPD Cmdr. Bryan Millard said Sr. Ofc. Cullum was given several weeks off to recover from a head wound suffered in the incident, and then returned to patrol duties. He declined to say when. “I cannot release any details of the exact dates or specifics of officer scheduling,” Cmdr. Millard said.
The bizarre case started about 6:43 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30, when 9-1-1 dispatchers got a report of an attempted break-in at The Good Flea Thrift Store, 335 Quintana Rd., which was reported by a nearby business owner.
As we reported at the time, the RP, who spoke exclusively to The Bay News, said he was at work when he heard glass breaking and went to investigate.
A young man was outside covered in white powder who when asked what he was doing, replied that he was “reclaiming some of God’s property,” and that he’d be back.
The funny-smelling powder was from a fire extinguisher Stephenson, who was carrying a 2-foot and 4-foot tree branches, allegedly used to break the Good Flea’s plate glass window and take a gold glass candleholder.
Stephenson reportedly said, “Want to know what’s happening?” then allegedly admitted that he’d broken the window and grabbed the candleholder. “He said, ‘I’m taking this for my alchemy.’”
Stephenson rode off on a bicycle in the direction of the Vet’s Hall on Surf Street and was followed as he headed out towards Morro Rock.
Two police cruisers responded and caught up to Stephenson near the basketball court on Coleman Drive. That’s where the encounter occurred with Ofc. Maria Lomeli and Sr. Ofc. Cullum, who was allegedly hit with a stick in the head by Stephenson before he shot him. Stephenson was hospitalized but did not suffer a serious wound. Ofc. Lomeli returned to duty right away.
Cmdr. Millard said this was the first officer-involved shooting for MBPD in his 15 years. “Our officers were present for the State Parks shooting in the early 2000s [a double homicide with a state park ranger wounding the suspect], though not directly involved. I have heard of previous incidents, but they occurred prior to my arrival here.”
Following the incident, MBPD didn’t change its policies. “We have not changed any policies as a result of this incident,” Cmdr Millard explained. “We did review the incident as part of a critical incident review process, and are always looking to improve our overall policing procedures. Since this is an ongoing case that is now scheduled for trial, we will be unable to discuss any specifics.”