Motorcyclist Shot by Deputy Is Taken From Hospital Into Custody

The Rancho Santa Margarita man who was shot outside his home by an Orange County Sheriff Department deputy was transferred from the hospital into custody this week.

RSM police chief Lt. Brian Schmutz talked about the latest news in the case Wednesday evening at the RSM City Council meeting. The council had in the shooting, the first officer involved shooting in the city's history.

"My understanding is that the young man was transferred from the hospital to Sheriff's Department custody this week," Schmutz told the five council members at the beginning of the meeting.

Schmutz said the investigation by the Orange County District Attorney's office is continuing and will "probably involve months in terms of time spent to complete it." Not yet released by authorities is the number of total shots fired and the number of times 20-year-old Dennis Mueller was hit. Witnesses said there were multiple shots fired.

Mueller was shot at least once in the lower abdomen by Officer Manuel Cruz.

The D.A.'s office on Thursday morning released additional information about the recent shooting, indicating that Mueller ran through red lights and reached speeds of 100 mph.

The charges against Mueller have been revised from what was released previously; he has been cited for evading a police officer/reckless driving, resisting a police officer, and driving on a suspended license.

Evading a police officer is a felony, the others are misdemeanors.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison. He is being held on $25,000 bail and is subject to a no bail probation violation hold. He is expected to be arraigned today.

and 10-year veteran of the OCSD, confronted Mueller in his Robinson Ranch cul-de-sac after Cruz recognized Mueller's Kawasaki traveling at a high rate of speed on Santa Margarita Parkway near Alma Aldea on March 10.

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Even though Cruz lost sight of the motorcycle, he had known Mueller and the vehicle's markings through previous contact and went to Meadow Park Lane where he lived.

According to the sheriff's blotter report of the sequence of events, Cruz saw Mueller's vehicle at 12:42 p.m., and shot Mueller at 12:57 p.m., about a minute after making contract. 

According to the OCSD, Cruz told Mueller not to move but instead toward a waistband while advancing on Cruz. This was corroborated by witnesses. It was then that Cruz, his gun drawn, fired.

Mueller has had no fewer than 15 run-ins with the law, beginning when he was 13 and cited for purchasing or being in possession of tobacco/paraphernalia.

In August 2011, Lake Forest Patch  after police pulled him over on a stolen dirt bike.

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The most serious offense on his rap sheet is the one for which he was arrested in Lake Forest—buying or receiving a stolen vehicle. Mueller pled guilty, served 30 days in jail and was placed on three years' probation.

Mueller was also charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance on June 9, 2011, for which he has yet to be judged in court.

Many of Mueller's contacts with law enforcement came from his driving too fast for the conditions, which inevitably led to the discovery that he failed to have documentation with him such as registration and insurance. 

Over the previous year, since March 7, 2011, Mueller had been cited eight times—including the most recent—by three agencies, the Orange County Sheriff's Department, California Highway Patrol and Newport Beach Police Department.

Last December, he was charged with reckless driving, driving with a suspended license, and going faster than 100 mph.

The shooting was the was on Feb. 7 in the while Loggins' two children were in the backseat.

Schmutz said that he has extended an invitation to the community to speak to him about the shooting if they have any concerns, and that he had contact from one person.