The LAPD trains officers that if they have “any fear at all of any potential threat to them, they can start shooting,” and Sanchez was acting based on that training, Galipo said.Īfter deliberating for just four hours, the jury agreed with Galipo's argument. “He was acting under the color of law and in the course and scope of his employment,” he said. argued it could not be held liable for Sanchez’ actions because at the time of the shooting he was off duty, out of uniform, and in another city.įrench family attorney Dale Galipo said Sanchez was acting in his capacity as an LAPD police officer because he was trained by the department, given permission to carry a concealed gun, and identified himself as an officer during the shooting. “We are proceeding forward with our federal civil rights lawsuit, (and) we believe the officer announced himself as a police officer.During the trial, attorneys representing the city of L.A. “I think it would be absurd for anyone to find that shooting to be in policy,” the lawyer said. Moore says in the report that he concurred with the department’s internal use-of-force board’s determination that “an officer with similar training and experiences as (Sanchez) would not reasonably believe that the suspect’s actions presented an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury and that the use of lethal force would not be objectively reasonable.”Īttorney Dale Galipo, who represents the French family, says Los Angeles is responsible for damages from the shooting. In a statement Wednesday, Moore said he felt “profound regret for what occurred to the French family.” Attorney Ira Salzman, who had represented him most recently, did not immediately return a phone call.Īn LAPD spokesman said Wednesday he did not know Sanchez’s current status.ĭiscipline for Sanchez, which could include getting fired, will now be determined by the chief.
It was unclear Wednesday how the conclusions will affect Sanchez, who last year was placed on administrative leave. (Sanchez) did not take time to correctly assess the incident and to analyze the threat.”Ĭhief Moore said Sanchez was also out of policy for even drawing and exhibiting his weapon in the incident. “Additionally, Kenneth was being pushed away (from Sanchez) and was not armed. Sanchez “made no attempts to communicate with Kenneth in an effort to de-escalate the incident,” the report says. Investigators asked him how he was able to take out his pistol when the officer was numb and paralyzed. Sanchez, who had no verifiable injury, according to the report, said he lost consciousness and fell to the ground, paralyzed after the hit by Kenneth French. Sanchez “had an obligation to take the time to assess the situation prior to making the decision to draw and exhibit a firearm inside of a crowded store,” the report says. The only gun found at the scene was Sanchez’s LAPD-issued pistol. But it also says there was no evidence that Kenneth French had a gun, or anything that resembled a gun. The report says Kenneth French’s hitting of the officer was indeed unprovoked. The report describes one of French’s parents screaming after the shooting: “My son’s sick! My son’s sick!” Kenneth French’s parents, Paola French and Russell French, were wounded by his gunfire. The officer, holding his small son and feeding him a sample inside the warehouse store when struck by French, said he believed he had been shot in the back of his head, and that French was armed with a small pistol. Kenneth, who didn’t talk, lived with his parents in the Lake Hills area near Corona.ĭuring the encounter, the parents have said, they tried to intervene and explain their son’s condition to Sanchez. Corona police at the time said Kenneth French attacked Sanchez “without provocation.”
that Friday near the deli in the back of the store on McKinley Street. The commission unanimously joined in the conclusion laid out in a report to the civilian oversight panel by Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore about a Jincident in which Kenneth French, 32, was fatally wounded by Officer Salvador Sanchez. An off-duty Los Angeles police officer was “out of policy” when he shot and killed an intellectually disabled Riverside County man and severely wounded his parents after the man struck the officer on his head inside a Corona Costco last year, the Los Angeles Police Commission agreed on Wednesday, June 10.
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