Napan's husband shot by off-duty LA police officer

By MARSHA DORGAN
Register Staff Writer

A Napa woman is mourning the death of her husband, Robert Day, 50, who was shot to death by an off-duty Los Angeles police officer on Aug. 25, at a convenience store near the Southern California town of Corona.

According to LAPD, Los Angeles Police Officer Antonio Mendez, who was driving his Hummer north on Interstate 5 with his 13-month-old son in the back seat, was sideswiped by a Toyota pickup, driven by Day, according to a Riverside County Sheriff’s press release.

Details of the accident were not available.

According to press reports, the collision resulted in a high speed chase between Day’s Toyota and the officer’s Hummer. The vehicles left the freeway, stopped and parked outside a deli. The drivers got out of their vehicles and exchanged words. While trying to detain Day, the off-duty officer fired his weapon once, hitting Day in the upper body, the press release said.

The only weapon found was Mendez’s firearm.

In an interview with the Register on Friday,  Day’s wife, Jennifer Day , said “A Napa police officer came to my house on Sunday night and told me I was not in any trouble.  He told me Robert had been killed in an accident. I have no idea why he (Robert) was in Riverside County.”

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident as a hit and run followed by an officer involved shooting, according to a sheriff’s press release.

Mendez was placed on administrative leave immediately following the fatal shooting.

Day and his wife Jennifer have a 10-month-old daughter Hayle.

“We had not been living together but we were trying to work things out,” she said. “Robert had troubles  (with the law) in Napa County in the past, but he had really changed since he became a father. He was great with our daughter.”

Day said her husband, who worked in construction while living in Napa, had gone to Orange County to be with friends who she believed could give him the support he needed to turn his life around.

Day said her husband left Napa in July.

“He is going to be cremated in Riverside and his ashes will be sent home to Napa for burial,” Jennifer said. “It’s been really a tough time for me. There are so many questions that have not been answered ... and there is our baby, how will I ever explain this to her?”

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009