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Stockton Bank Robbery Hostage's Family Wants Answers From Police On Protocol

STOCKTON (CBS13) — The family of a bank robbery hostage killed during a shootout is asking for answers from police about the decisions they made leading up to her death.

The gunshots that hit the getaway SUV left it riddled with bulletholes after at least 20 Stockton officers fired shots during the chase and shootout. Those officers were placed on paid administrative leave, as is typical in these situations.

When the shootout was over, police discovered one of the suspects had used hostage Misty Holt-Singh as a shield from the bullets to keep him alive.

A Singh family spokesman says how she lost her life raises questions, and called on police to provide dispatch logs and audio and video records of the incident to the family.

Attorney Mark Reichel says the Singh family could have enough evidence to file a lawsuit against police.

"To me this doesn't appear to be the textbook way that you want to stop these guys that they're so dangerous," he said.

Reichel says the video shows a police response that went wrong.

"To me, at first blush, and my gut instinct is, something did go wrong," he said. "I saw the video; I watched the video; it's as if they could have blown it up with a bazooka, or a rocket-propelled grenade. This was somewhere in iraq or somewhere."

Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones spoke the day after the deadly shootout about his department's policy on shooting at a vehicle with a hostage inside.

"The basic protocol for an officer firing their weapons is in defense of their own life and defense of others," he said.

The family says they have not hired any legal counsel as of now.

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