Original Article Woman recounts officer killing of friend Emily Bittner The Arizona Republic Oct. 5, 2004 12:00 AM A woman who had been stopped for speeding said she watched as a police officer shot her boyfriend. She said the incident was unprovoked, but a state police spokesman said the officer feared for his life. Jim Moreland, 46, died of his wounds the same day, Sept. 25, at a Valley hospital. In a telephone interview Monday, Janice Worthington said she was standing at the rear of her vehicle on Arizona 87 south of Payson talking with Department of Public Safety Officer Jarom Lewis. Moreland was unarmed and standing beside the passenger door of their car, she said. Lewis, 26, who has been on the force for three years, was placed on routine administrative leave after the shooting, said Officer Frank Valenzuela, a DPS spokesman. According to Worthington, 46, Moreland did nothing to provoke the shooting. The officer believed his life was in danger, said Valenzuela, who declined to describe what led him to that conclusion. Worthington gives the following account of the shooting: Around 3 p.m., she and Moreland were heading to a friend's cabin north of Payson when she was stopped by Lewis. The officer walked to the passenger side of the car and asked Worthington for her license and insurance information. She and Moreland passed it to him through the open window. Lewis asked her to step to the rear of the car. She told him she thought she was being pulled over for speeding. The officer asked for and was given permission to search the car. Lewis went to the passenger side of the car and spoke to Moreland who got out and stood by the passenger door. Worthington didn't hear their exchange, but Moreland asked her if she told the officer he could search the car. "He said, 'You never tell them yes,' " Worthington said. "With that, I heard three shots, and James fell to the ground. I started screaming, and I started forward to go to him." Moreland didn't raise his voice, move suddenly or raise his hands, Worthington said. The officer told investigators that Moreland immediately grew agitated and volatile about the search and that Moreland told Worthington to get in the car and leave, Valenzuela said. After the shooting, the officer pointed his gun at her and told her to get on the ground and stay there, Worthington said. Then, she said, Lewis went back to his vehicle. Investigators aren't releasing details of the shooting because Worthington wants to "try this in the media," Valenzuela said. "Jumping to all of these conclusions does no justice to either party," he said. Worthington and Moreland lived together for the past two years and just bought a house together in Apache Junction. "He was the most patient, loving man I've met in my entire life," said Worthington, who owns a housecleaning business. "I didn't know they made them like that anymore." Moreland drove propane trucks, making deliveries to RV parks around the East Valley for the past five years. His boss at Aeropropane, Charlie Ory, said Moreland was one of his best employees. Moreland was randomly tested for drugs and never failed a test, Ory said. He was often stopped because he hauled hazardous materials and knew how to handle himself during a traffic stop, he said. "I'm still shocked that, of all the people I know, Jim was the last one I would've suspected would have had any type of problem with law enforcement," Ory said. "I was just stunned." Reach the reporter at emily.bittner@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-4783.