Attorney: Harbor Police Shooting Of Dancer Unjustified

SAN DIEGO -- A 37-year-old male dancer fatally shot by a San Diego Harbor Police officer after jumping from a boat was not under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs, and was killed in an unjustifiable shooting, an attorney representing the victim's family said Wednesday.

Brian Claypool spoke to reporters in front of the San Diego Hall of Justice a day after a report from the medical examiner's office showed that Steven Hirschfield had methamphetamine, ketamine -- a veterinary tranquilizer sometimes used as a club or date-rape narcotic -- and the sedative antihistamine doxylamine in his bloodstream when he was shot July 19.

The dead man's parents have filed lawsuits seeking $20 million in damages from Williams and the Harbor Police Department.

The toxicology report showed traces of meth, diet pills that Hirschfield was taking to lose weight and therapeutic drugs taken to fight off a head cold, Claypool said.

"Drugs did not play a part in this shooting," the attorney told reporters.

A spokesman for the Harbor Police Department refused comment, citing pending litigation in the case.

The night of the shooting, Hirschfield, an actor and dancer from West Hollywood who had been hired to entertain on a charter cruise as part of Gay Pride Day festivities, jumped off the boat into the bay about 11 p.m., according to an autopsy report.

The crew of the yacht, the Hornblower Inspiration, sent a rescue vessel to pick Hirschfield up, but he refused to board and began swimming toward shore, which was about 500 feet away, according to the document.

Responding to an emergency call, San Diego Harbor Police Officers Wayne Schmidt and Clyde Williams intercepted Hirschfield and, when he declined to get into their vessel, pulled him aboard, the report states.

At that point, Hirschfield allegedly became violent, knocking Schmidt to the deck of the vessel and striking him in the face with his stun gun. He then allegedly tried to grab Schmidt's pistol, prompting Williams to open fire. Hirschfield died at the scene.

Schmidt was treated for face and leg injuries at a hospital following the altercation.

Claypool questioned whether Hirschfield did all the things officers said he did while on board the 34-foot patrol boat.

"Where was (Officer) Clyde Williams when this all happened?" Claypool asked.

The attorney suggested Williams had "every opportunity" to pull Hirschfield off Schmidt instead of shooting him at close range.

"He (Williams) had every opportunity to use less than lethal force to diffuse the situation," Claypool told reporters.

The attorney said Hirschfield was also shot with the Taser gun in the groin area, near the genitals.

"We find that very, very questionable," Claypool said.

The attorney said he has talked to witnesses who were on the charter cruise the night of the shooting, but no one so far has said they saw what happened to Hirschfield.

The medical examiner's office initially reported that Hirschfield died of a chest wound. The report released Tuesday contains the same conclusion, but states that the .40-caliber hollow-point slug that caused the lethal wound entered Hirschfield's back and shattered his spine before exiting his right pectoral area.

In previous public statements, Claypool branded the shooting a "needless and unjustified execution" by a "renegade officer." He also suggested the shooting may have stemmed from "anti-gay sentiment."