TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

One of the officers who shot and killed a 15-year-old boy Friday night -- a shooting criticized as unnecessary by witnesses -- has now been involved in three fatal shootings in two months.

Timothy Berchtold, 33, a two-year veteran of the police department with prior experience at the California Highway Patrol, fired at Traveon John Avila, who was in a stolen car that witnesses said stalled on a dirt slope at the end of the street and rolled back toward Berchtold as he was at the passenger door of his patrol car.

The new account by two witnesses sheds light on why the car might have been rolling back toward the police car, an action which apparently led the officers to fire at the driver. Yet the witnesses also said the driver did not have a chance to surrender.

The left rear bumper of the stolen car, a 2001 Acura, ran into the passenger door of the police car, police said. Witnesses said the Acura rolled back, but did not accelerate back.

Police wouldn't comment on the witnesses' accounts, or on the assertion that the vehicle had stalled and hadn't been deliberately thrown into reverse.

The shooting followed a short pursuit.

The other officer, Noah Landers, 26, a nearly three-year veteran of the department, drove the patrol car in the pursuit of the Acura that began on Cottonwood Road and Bradshaw Street and ended in the 1400 block of Windsor Street, police said. He too shot at Avila, police said. This was the first officer-involved shooting for Landers, police said.

Bakersfield police said it's not unusual for officers to have multiple shootings in their careers. However, although it also isn't unusual for officers to have no shootings, it is unusual for an officer to have so many fatal shootings in such a short time, police Sgt. Mary DeGeare said.

In recent history, Sgt. Jon Scott had eight shootings -- including three fatal when he was among other officers shooting at suspects -- in a 13-year span that began in 1993, police reported. And in the 1980s, Bruce Adair had four shootings in his first four years on the force, two of them fatal. All of those shootings were ruled justifiable though both Scott and Adair went against department policy each on one of their shootings, department records say.

Berchtold and Landers are on routine administrative leave pending the police investigation of the shooting and a determination by a police shooting review board.

While witnesses said the Avila shooting was unnecessary, police are withholding comment on many of the details until their investigation is complete, DeGeare said.

The incident began about 9:20 p.m. when Landers and Berchtold attempted to stop the Acura, which was reported stolen on June 5, police said.

The short pursuit went west on Reese Avenue and south on a half block of Windsor Street, which dead-ends into a dirt embankment. Police said Landers got out of the driver's side and Berchtold got out of the passenger side just as the right front passenger in the Acura took off running. At that time, the Acura began backing toward the officers, striking the passenger door of the police car where Berchtold was standing, DeGeare said.

Both officers fired multiple times at Avila, incapacitating him. A third passenger, a 17-year-old male, emerged from the back seat and was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy, auto theft and participating in a street gang. Police said Avila was a gang member too and the crime qualified as one furthering the interest of a gang.

The suspect who ran away, described as a black male, 25, 5-foot-9 to 6-foot-tall, wearing a white tank type T-shirt, escaped despite a wide search, police said.

The shooting took place in front of three men standing in a front yard less than 40 feet away, and several teenage girls about 80 feet away.

Two of the men with the best view talked to police and The Californian.

Both Julius Mosley, 26, and Theodis Wiley, 27, said the officers began firing before Avila had a chance to surrender. Wiley said that as the Acura was rolling backward, Avila had his hands up.

The men said they didn't hear the officers or anyone in the car say anything before the shots rang out. It was after the shooting that the driver side officer (Landers) ordered "put your hands up," Mosley said.

Mosley said the passenger side officer (Berchtold) fired first and then the driver's side officer fired next. Wiley said the passenger side officer fired second because he stumbled when the Acura hit the patrol car door and he had to back up a little bit before firing.

Mosley said the driver of the Acura (Avila) "had no way to get out of the car."

Wiley said of the officers, "They shot at the suspects for no reason. The people in the car really didn't have a chance to surrender."

It is unknown how many shots were fired. Several witnesses said three, another said five and other reports were as many as eight.

One of the girls just up the street from the shooting was Aaliya Williams, 15, who said she was scared and didn't actually see what happened. But she knew Avila, who she described as "a friend since I was little. He had a nice personality. We played jump rope." She said she feels sad about his death.

A neighbor, Joann Sterling, 63,, whose yard the teen girls were playing in, said Avila was one of the kids in the neighborhood. "He used to come over here and play with my granddaughter" when they were in grade school, she said.

She said he went to Curran Junior High School.

Kern High School District spokesman John Teves said Avila was enrolled at South High School last year, but he didn't attend classes.

A relative of Avila said the teen's mother was too distraught to talk.