Assault charges dropped against Carson man

Friday, June 25, 1999 | 3:26 a.m.

Carson District Judge Mike Fondi dismissed the charges filed against Rolland Weddell, 53, following the October 1997 incident.

Fondi said Weddell had reason to believe Jamie Bustamonte was one of two men in a car that came to Weddell's construction yard, ran over one of his employees and threatened his daughter.

Weddell admitted firing four shots at Bustamonte when he confronted him the next day, but said he was only trying to arrest Bustamonte. No one was injured.

"The police simply cannot be everywhere all the time to protect citizens from getting themselves into the kind of situation Mr. Weddell found himself in," Fondi said. "Mr. Weddell had a legal right to do what he did. The mystery to me is how (Weddell) missed him firing at such close range. It's lucky for Mr. Bustamonte that he did miss him."

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