Man pleads guilty to involvement in confrontation where Riverside police shot dead unarmed girlfriend – Press Enterprise

RIVERSIDE — A criminal who held his girlfriend at a Riverside apartment where police launched a rescue that resulted in the woman being shot, pleaded guilty Monday to false imprisonment and witness intimidation.

Resan Bingham, 30, of San Bernardino, admitted to the allegations of the crime under an agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for his admission, prosecutors agreed to drop two related crime cases.

Supreme Court Justice Judith Clark has scheduled a sentencing hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice for April 4 and ordered Bingham to be held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.

According to prosecutors, the plea carries a sentence of seven years and eight months in state prison.

According to Riverside Police Officer Ryan Railsback, Bingham’s girlfriend, identified only as “DJ” in court documents, called 911 around 2:15 p.m. on September 20 and said a man was outside her apartment on the 800 block of Blaine Street , north of the UC Riverside campus with a handgun, causing her to fear for her safety.

Railsback said patrol officers got to the site within minutes and discovered “a black backpack on a bush under the woman’s second-story balcony, and there was a pistol inside.”

Officers went into the apartment to investigate and knocked on the door, demanding the victim open it, Railsback said.

He said officers could hear noises in the unit, but the woman wouldn’t open the door, after which a patrol officer kicked her and an officer opened fire, injuring the woman in a shoulder.

Bingham was at the home but was not shot. He was taken into custody without further incident, Railsback said. No officers were injured.

DJ was taken to Riverside Community Hospital and treated for her non-life threatening gunshot wound, from which she fully recovered.

“Later that evening, investigators learned that (Bingham) was her boyfriend and that he had used physical force to prevent her from answering the door when officers knocked,” Railsback said.

It was unclear why the woman was in the line of fire or what prompted the officer to shoot.

The case was investigated by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Force Investigations Detail Commission of Inquiry, overseen by the District Attorney’s Office, but there was no immediate information as to whether disciplinary action was taken against the law officer.

According to court records, Bingham has previous convictions for robbery and assault. He has served time in state prison, records show.