Charge is filed in weapon incident
Hermosa Beach Fire Department arson investigator Darryl Powers has been charged with one misdemeanor count for allegedly “brandishing a firearm at a woman sitting next to him” while he was off duty in a Sunset Beach bar, prosecutors in Orange County announced.
Powers, 49, was charged with one count of brandishing a firearm capable of being concealed upon a person in a public place. If convicted, he faces a possible sentence of 90 days to one year in jail, prosecutors said.
Arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 24 at the West Justice Center in Westminster.
“At approximately 9:15 p.m. on [Wednesday] July 7, 2010, Powers is accused of being at Turc’s Bar in Sunset Beach having drinks with his cousin. The defendant is accused of taking out a knife and stabbing it into the bar in front of him. Victim Kimberly D., who did not know the defendant, was sitting next to him at the bar,” said the Orange County District Attorney’s Office in a prepared statement.
“A bartender took the knife and told the defendant that he could not have a knife at the bar. When the bartender walked away, Powers is accused of taking a firearm from his pocket and putting in on the bar with the barrel pointing at Kimberly D. The frightened victim asked Powers to put the firearm away, but he is accused of leaving it on the bar,” the statement read.
“The victim told the bartender, who contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Powers was contacted by OCSD as he left the bar and released at the scene pending further investigation,” according to the statement.
Powers is being prosecuted by the county’s Special Prosecutions Unit, which handles a variety of cases, including those involving law enforcement officers.
Duty weapon
Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino confirmed that the firearm, a handgun, had been provided to Powers by the Hermosa Beach Fire Department.
The department’s four arson investigators, who are also sworn peace officers, are authorized to carry duty firearms, department officials said.
Fire Chief David Lantzer was out of town this week. The acting chief, Capt. Mike Garofano, estimated that Hermosa arson investigators have carried firearms for at least 25 years, and said the Orange County incident was the only one in which the handling of a department gun “had ever come into question.”
The Hermosa Beach Fire Department has launched its own internal investigation into the incident, in addition to the investigation and prosecution in Orange County. ER