Ronald Bridgeforth - 40-year fugitive - sentenced

March 24, 2012 Michael Macor / The Chronicle

Ronald Bridgeforth, with wife Diane and sister Connie Bridgeforth in November, fled in the '60s.

In an emotional and at times tense court hearing, a 67-year-old man who spent more than four decades on the lam was sentenced Friday to a year in county jail for opening fire on South San Francisco police officers in 1968.

About 30 supporters of Ronald Stanley Bridgeforth applauded after a hearing at which Superior Court Judge Lisa Novak said she had decided against imposing the maximum five-year sentence because Bridgeforth was taking responsibility for his crime and wasn't a danger to society.

Bridgeforth pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon in November, 11 days after he left his life as "Cole Jordan," a therapist at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Mich., and turned himself in to San Mateo County authorities.
Fired at 3 officers

Bridgeforth admitted to firing on three South San Francisco police officers in November 1968 after trying to use a stolen credit card at a department store on El Camino Real.

He pleaded no contest to the crime in 1969 but fled before his sentencing. He settled down in Michigan, earned bachelor's and master's degrees, got married, had two sons and, according to his family and supporters, lived a life of service counseling college students.

"I have worked tirelessly to remake myself into someone that my family and my community could be proud of," Bridgeforth said before being sentenced in Redwood City. "Today brings me closer to that goal."
Student testifies

A former student, Zachary Baker, said he met Bridgeforth six years ago, on the day he was planning to drop out of college. He had just lost his job and was homeless.

Now he attends the University of Michigan and plans to become a social worker, he said. He tutors elementary school students in Detroit and has them add "future college student" to their names on all their work.

"Every person I help is a direct result of the influence Mr. Bridgeforth had on my life," Baker said. "Had he been in jail the day I needed help, my life would not be where it is today."

Prosecutors sought a longer sentence, saying Bridgeforth deserved it for committing a violent crime that endangered not only police but bystanders at the store.

Police Lt. George Baptista, one of the officers Bridgeforth shot at, said he had considered quitting after the incident, fearing his infant son would grow up without a father.

"I've encountered a lot of violent people, but in my experience, Mr. Bridgeforth was the most violent," he said. "He is the only one who tried to kill me."

Bridgeforth apologized to the South San Francisco officers in court Friday and called the shooting "a misguided and reckless act that endangered everyone's lives."
'Genuine' remorse

In passing sentence, Novak said Bridgeforth appeared to have "genuine" remorse and was truly rehabilitated.

She turned down the defense's proposed sentence of probation, however, saying, "Probation would not be appropriate for someone who shot at police officers."

In addition to a year in county jail, Novak sentenced Bridgeforth to three years' probation, 300 hours of community service tutoring at-risk youth and a fine of $8,500.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Demian Bulwa contributed to this report.