Man Involved in Palm Springs OIS Pleads Not Guilty
Man Involved in Palm Springs OIS Pleads Not Guilty
by Contributing Editor
A man suspected of threatening people with a knife and trying to fight police officers — which allegedly prompted an officer-involved shooting — pleaded not guilty to five felony charges Wednesday.
Kevyn Matthew Weintraub, 43, faces charges of assault on an officer with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury, battery on an officer, assault on a person causing great bodily injury, resisting an officer and making a false report to an officer, according to a criminal complaint filed in Riverside County Superior Court.
Weintraub was initially set to be arraigned Tuesday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio but was not medically cleared to go to court; his arraignment was rescheduled for Wednesday.
The altercation that ended in Weintraub’s arrest began around 4:15 p.m. on Aug. 8. Several 911 calls came in at that time reporting a man waving a knife around and fighting people near Camino Parocela and South Palm Canyon Drive, according to Palm Springs police.
Officers arrived and said they found a man matching the description of the suspect — later identified as Weintraub.
According to police, shots were fired when Weintraub wouldn’t comply with commands and tried to fight with officers. He suffered a non-life-threatening injury and was booked into the Indio jail after officers rendered medical aid.
One officer sustained a moderate injury and was taken to a hospital.
Jeff Orozco, the owner of Gentlemen’s Barber Shop near the scene of the shooting, told KESQ he had heard Weintraub shouting slurs at passersby.
“He wasn’t just targeting Mexicans, in a way he was, but even the gay guys, the gay community he was calling them the ‘f word’ and all that and it’s not cool. It’s not cool to treat people like that,” Orozco said.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department was investigating the shooting.
Weintraub remained in custody at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside in lieu of $25,000 bail, according to jail records. He is set to return to court for a felony settlement conference on Aug. 21.
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All credit goes to Contributing Editor
Originally published on https://mynewsla.com
