Terrall Magee Identified as Man Who Died After Clash with Santa Ana Cops

UPDATE: The man who died after a foot chase and physical altercation with Santa Ana police officers on West First Street Sunday night has been identified as Terrall Magee, a 53-year-old transient.

His cause of death has not yet been released.

Magee’s name and age fall in line with a man quoted in Orange County Register reporter Brooke Staggs’ Christmas Eve 2015 feature story titled “Gang rivals now friends making random acts of kindness.”

That story is about Henry Irvin and Jimmy Rumsey, former Tustin gang rivals-turned-friends helping the less fortunate.

TUSTIN – Saturday morning felt like winter. So it didn’t take long for the usual crowd of vagrants camped at Santa Ana’s Civic Center to notice a few tables with hot food for the taking.

Henry Irvin and Jimmy Rumsey stood shoulder to shoulder for hours, dishing up bowls of chili and handing out holiday pies with help from family and friends.

The free meal was a blessing for 51-year-old Terrall Magee, who’s often called the streets home since he got addicted to drugs 33 years ago. But when Magee learned a bit about Irvin and Rumsey, he felt more than full. He felt inspired.

“It’s a good thing when they change their lives,” Magee said. “I wish I could do the same.” 

ORIGINAL POST: One night after Christopher Eisinger’s in-custody death following a struggle with police in Anaheim, a second man died Sunday under similar circumstances with police in Santa Ana, according to authorities.

Also on Sunday, a man who allegedly drove a car into a Garden Grove police officer was shot by cops “several times,” according to a spokesman from that agency. The driver is being treated in a hospital.

A burglary alarm going off at 9:17 p.m. Sunday sent Santa Ana police officers to 2411 W. 1st St., which was being watched remotely by an employee via a surveillance system, according to a Santa Ana Police Department advisory.

The employee reported that an unknown male was on the property, and the first officer on the scene saw a male jumping over a perimeter fence and landing on to the sidewalk of West 1st Street, states the advisory.

Suspected of burglary, the male ran with an officer on foot giving chase before both got into a physical altercation at the entrance to a nearby business, according to the advisory, which adds more officers arrived and “force” was “used” to “overcome the suspect’s resistance.”

The advisory continues: “Once subdued, the suspect went into medical distress. Officers performed CPR while awaiting paramedics. Orange County Fire Authority paramedics arrived on scene, treated, and transported the suspect to a local regional hospital. Doctors declared the suspect deceased at 10:10 p.m.”

His name is pending verification and his cause of death is pending a determination, both from the Orange County Coroner’s Office.

The Orange County District Attorney’s office and the Santa Ana Police Department Homicide Unit are investigating the circumstances that led to the male’s death.

It was earlier, around 12:30 a.m. the same day that two Garden Grove Police Department officers were checking parked vehicles in the parking lot of the Grove Motel, 9821 Garden Grove Blvd., where three people were seen in a white Honda Accord, says Garden Grove Police Lt. Carl Whitney.

After the officers made contact with the vehicle’s occupants, one cop was struck by the car attempting to flee, according to Whitney, who added that is when the officer-involved shooting happened “and the driver was shot several times.”

Paramedics rushed the wounded motorist to a trauma center, where his condition has not been released.

The officer hit by the car was treated and released.

Neither of the two passengers–a man and a woman–was hurt, and they cooperated with police detectives and were not arrested, Whitney said.

Gregory Jay Eisinger and Katrina Eisinger, the parents of the late Christopher Eisinger, held a news conference with their attorneys Monday at the Orange County Coroner’s Office to say they want answers in the 35-year-old’s death, which was reported by my colleague Gabriel San Roman; see “Homeless Man Pulled Off Life Support After Encounter With Anaheim Police.”

Eisinger, who had been detained on suspicion of trying to break into a house and cars, struggled with police on March 2, when he went into full cardiac arrest and was taken to a local hospital. His family took him off life support on Saturday.

The attorneys alleged at the news conference that the Anaheim Police officers’ actions caused Eisinger’s airways to be blocked, stopping his breathing. 

Anaheim Police Chief Julian Harvey said at the previous press conference that he reviewed body camera footage and saw no wrongdoing by the five officers who had surrounded Eisinger.

Nevertheless, Harvey’s agency has launched an internal investigation.