A man fighting with a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy in Corona earlier this year — while repeatedly yelling “Kill him!” to his companion — allegedly reached for the lawman’s gun before the deputy fired one shot, killing her, with much of the struggle caught on body-worn-camera video.
After the shot was fired, the deputy continued to struggle with the man before help arrives, the video shows. The man, 32-year-old Eric John Nourani of San Diego, has since been charged with murder, attempted murder of a peace officer, mayhem and resisting an officer with violence, officials said.
At one point the woman, Jennifer Rose Dobbins, 30, of Imperial Beach, referred to Nourani as her husband.
The California Attorney General’s Office is leading the investigation into the shooting, as state law requires for police killings of unarmed civilians.
About 1:10 a.m. on June 11, 2024, the deputy, who has not been identified, attempted to speak with Nourani and Dobbins after observing them “displaying unusual behavior” in a parking lot in the 1000 block of West Sixth Street, Sheriff Chad Bianco says in the critical-incident video that includes the body-worn camera images and was released on Thursday, Aug. 15.
The sheriff did not elaborate on the behavior. Whether the deputy believed the pair was committing a crime was not disclosed by the department.
The deputy stopped his patrol car and got out. While speaking with them, the pair ran across Sixth and went behind a small business’s building. When the pursuing deputy rounded the corner, Nourani attacked him, the video shows.
“Kill him! Kill him!” Nourani repeats during the attack, while Dobbins says over and over: “In the name of Jesus, I rebuke you!”
The deputy gets on top of Nourani, who is on his back, with a hand on the suspect’s neck. Dobbins grabs at the deputy’s right arm.
“Get off my husband!” she says.
“He’s a demon,” Nourani says.
“I am going to (expletive) get rid of you!” she says. “You’re going to hell.”
The deputy tells Nourani not to reach for his gun. But soon Nourani yells, “Keep fighting!”
Dobbins is seen kicking the deputy.
More than two minutes into the fight, the deputy says, “I’m going black.”
Seconds later, the deputy pulls out his gun and fires one shot, gets up and tries to back away from Nourani and Dobbins. Just before the shot, exact movements are hard to discern.
“Help me,” Dobbins says. “Eric, I’m scared.”
Dobbins is seen lying a short distance away as Nourani again attacks the deputy.
The second part of the brawl ensues for another two minutes, with Nourani standing up and appearing to struggle for the gun with the deputy.
“Get him, he’s stealing my gun!” the deputy yells as a good Samaritan, wearing a yellow vest and shining a flashlight, arrives and pulls Nourani away and takes him to the ground.
Dobbins was taken to a hospital, where she died. The deputy was hospitalized with minor injuries.
Asked whether Nourani and Dobbins may have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs, Riverside County sheriff’s officials declined to comment, citing the ongoing Department of Justice investigation.
