![]() The encounter in the store in Corona lasted just 3.8 seconds. The lawsuit seeks unspecified wrongful-death damages, compensatory damages for personal injury and punitive damages over what it says are violations of state civil rights statutes. “We are still fighting for our health and will not stop fighting for justice.” “Our lives will never be the same and the holidays are completely empty without Kenneth,” the parents said in a statement announcing the civil rights lawsuit. His parents, Russell and Paola French, were seriously wounded. Prosecutors declined to charge Officer Salvador Sanchez for the June 14 shooting that killed Kenneth French. Kenneth French was shot once in the shoulder and three times in the back, while his mother was shot in the back, and her husband was shot in the abdomen, resulting in the loss of a kidney.LOS ANGELES - The family of a mentally ill man who was shot and killed by an off-duty Los Angeles police officer inside a Costco store sued the officer and the city on Wednesday. Store security surveillance tapes showed the victims backing away from Sanchez when he fired. Russell and Paola French said they pleaded with Sanchez not to shoot, telling the officer that their son, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was largely nonverbal, was ill. But the victim was not armed, according to police. Tapes from body-worn cameras of Corona police officers who went to the scene captured statements from Sanchez indicating that he initially believed Kenneth French was holding a weapon. No one has disputed that, for reasons still unknown, Kenneth French shoved the off-duty lawman to the ground.Īccording to Sanchez's civil attorney, David Winslow, his client was dazed, and when he saw his son next to him screaming, he "had no choice but to use deadly force." ![]() The victims were shopping when they approached a food sample table with sausages, where the defendant was also standing, holding his then-18-month-old son. ![]() A Los Angeles jury in November 2021 ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, awarding them $17 million. The French family filed a lawsuit against the LAPD, the city of Los Angeles and Sanchez at the end of 2019, alleging negligence and civil rights violations. In the summer of 2020, the Los Angeles Police Commission determined the Costco shooting reflected unjustifiable use of force, and Sanchez was booted out of the Los Angeles Police Department a month later. The Riverside County District Attorney's Office in September 2019 took the matter to the 19-member county grand jury, and jurors declined to indict Sanchez. When he announced criminal charges against Sanchez last summer, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the case was about "pursuing justice" and reaffirming the principle that "nobody is above the law." I tried to feel for a pulse, but there was no pulse."Īccording to Corona police investigators, only Sanchez was armed and fired 10 shots from his off-duty pistol. Then he appeared to stop bleeding, and there was no more labored breathing. I took his right hand and tried talking to him, but he didn't respond. I stayed with him for five or 10 minutes. There was like a tremor every now and again. "There was blood coming out of his right ear. 29 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.ĭuring testimony last week, witness William Gagnon described the aftermath of the shooting, saying that because of the volley of gunfire, he initially believed there were "two shooters." ![]() The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for Aug. (CNS) - An off-duty Los Angeles police officer who fatally shot a developmentally disabled man during a confrontation in a Corona Costco, as well as critically wounded the victim's parents - all of whom were unarmed - must stand trial on voluntary manslaughter and other charges, a judge has ruled.įollowing a preliminary hearing that spanned nearly three days, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Samuel Diaz ruled there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial for 33-year-old Salvador Alejandro Sanchez of Corona on the manslaughter count, as well as two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm resulting in great bodily injury. After days of graphic witness testimony, a former LAPD officer has been ordered to stand trial for a fatal shooting at a Costco store in Corona.
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