Ruling: LA officer used unreasonable force in Costco killing
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An off-duty Los Angeles police officer violated departmental policy last year when he shot and killed a mentally ill man who had attacked him and his young son from behind in a Southern California Costco, the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners ruled Wednesday.
LAPD Officer Salvador Sanchez, a seven-year veteran of the LAPD, opened fire June 14 in a Costco in Corona, killing 32-year-old Kenneth French and critically injuring his parents, Russell and Paola French.
Sanchez told investigators he believed French had a gun and that his life and his son’s life were in immediate danger from an active shooter. French was not armed and was moving away from Sanchez when he opened fire.
The civilian police commissioners determined French’s conduct did not present an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury — meaning that the use of lethal force was not “objectively reasonable.”
Sanchez used tactics that warrant administrative disapproval, the commission ruled, though it was not immediately clear what that could be.
Commissioners also said in a report that Sanchez should have identified himself as a police officer and tried to deescalate the incident verbally before firing his weapon in a way that ” unjustifiably and substantially deviated from approved Department tactical training.”
Commissioners also criticized Sanchez for failing to warn other shoppers of the perceived danger. The report also stated that Sanchez gave investigators “conflicting, contradictory, and confusing” statements that caused the commissioners “great concern.”
The Riverside County district attorney in September declined to charge Sanchez criminally after a grand jury did not bring an indictment. District Attorney Mike Hestrin said Sanchez believed...
