Claim against city of Los Angeles by family in Corona Costco shooting says officer had ID’ed himself
Claim against city of Los Angeles by family in Corona Costco shooting says officer had ID’ed himself
by Richard K. De Atley
The parents of an intellectually disabled man who was fatally shot by an off-duty Los Angeles police officer and with the couple seriously wounded as well inside the Corona Costco two months ago has filed a complaint with the city of Los Angeles, a family lawyer said on Monday.
There is no dollar amount sought in the claim, attorney Dale Galipo said just before a press conference.
“Officer (Salvador) Sanchez identified himself as a being a police officer prior to the shooting,” the claim says.
“Accordingly, Officer Sanchez was acting under color of law as a LAPD police officer at the time of the shooting and was acting in his capacity as a LAPD police officer at the time of the shooting,” it says.
Russell and Paola French, the parents of 32-year-old Kenneth French, were expected to speak publicly for the first time about the June 14 incident during the news conference, held in a Corona hotel.
The claim is a first step in filing a lawsuit against a local government. If Los Angeles rejects it, then the Frenches can sue in court. Among the claim’s contentions are negligence, battery and wrongful death.
Russell and Paola were both shot in the back, Galipo has said. Kenneth, who didn’t talk, lived with his parents in the Lake Hills area, east of Corona.
What happened is unclear that day inside the warehouse store at 480 N. McKinley St. in Corona.
“The shooting of Kenneth, Russell, and Paola French was unjustified, unreasonable and completely excessive, particularly because neither Kenneth, Russell, nor Paola French posed an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury to any person, including Officer Sanchez, at the time of the shooting,” says the claim, which Galipo’s office released to the media Monday morning.
The parents had tried to explain to Sanchez their son’s disability after Kenneth either pushed or struck Sanchez, who was holding his 18-month-old son, Galipo has previously said.
But Sanchez’s attorney, David Winslow, has said the shooting happened after the officer was “without warning or provocation …violently attacked from behind.”
He has said the officer and his son were knocked to the floor and the officer was momentarily unconscious, and the shooting started because the officer feared for his son’s life and “believed he was under attack.”
The shooting sent panicked shoppers fleeing to the exits and into a walk-in cooler to hide.
The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office has obtained a judge’s order that seals public viewing of a surveillance video of the shooting from anyone but law enforcement for one year from the shooting. The order prevents the Los Angeles Police Department from following its policy of publicly releasing video surveillance of an LAPD shooting within 45 days.
The Riverside prosecutor’s office is reviewing the case to see if charges are warranted. The Los Angeles Police Department is examining the matter administratively.
All credit goes to Richard K. De Atley
Originally published on https://www.dailynews.com
