Sanchez's lawyer, seeking to limit the former officer's financial responsibility for the shooting, echoed the argument that the former officer used the gun as part of his job. The city doesn't want to pay these people a dime." That's really what this comes down to, is money. "Sanchez should be held accountable," he added, "but so should they. "Make no mistake about it, if Officer Sanchez at the time had not had that weapon by virtue of his LAPD police officer status, this wouldn't have happened. "They hired him, they trained him, they gave him permission to have that gun," Galipo told the jury in his closing statement. It would have been up to the jury to decide whether Sanchez used excessive and unreasonable force, but Bernal ruled Tuesday that the evidence was so clear that the jury did not need to consider the question.īut jurors were asked to determine whether Sanchez was serving in his capacity as an officer of the Los Angeles Police Department when he drew his gun and fired at the French family, and they found unanimously that he was. Sanchez was not in the courtroom Wednesday for closing statements or the verdict. Mike Feuer, said, "We will review all our options including appeal." "They're hoping that now that they've received some justice on behalf of Kenneth, they can start the healing and closure process," he said. Galipo, the couple's attorney, who often represents victims of police shootings and their families. The damages award was unusually high for a police shooting case, said Dale K. The suit was filed against Sanchez and the city by Kenneth French's parents, Russell and Paola French. That finding effectively made the city of Los Angeles liable for damages. Police Commission found that he violated department policy in the shooting of French and his parents, who were seriously wounded.Īfter four hours of deliberations Wednesday at the federal courthouse in Riverside, the jury of six women and two men found that Sanchez acted within the scope of his LAPD employment when he fired 10 shots at the French family. Sanchez, who was fired last year, is awaiting trial on manslaughter and assault charges filed by the California attorney general's office after a Riverside County grand jury declined to indict him a few months after the killing. (Will Lester/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG via AP) The family is calling on authorities to publicly release the surveillance video from Costco, Galipo said.Officers exit the Corona Costco following a fatal shooting involving an off-duty LAPD officer inside the wholesale warehouse store on June 14, 2019. "Shooting Kenneth, in our view, was completely excessive and unnecessary," he said. Galipo described the shooting as "egregious," stating that as a trained LAPD officer, Sanchez should have deescalated the situation, "especially when you're in Costco and there's innocent customers and children." Paola French described her son as a "peaceful and loving soul" who "never was threatening towards anybody at any time." Galipo said that, "given Kenneth's nature," something may have happened between him and Sanchez that instigated the altercation. The shooting "drastically changed the course of our lives," Paola French said. The couple's younger son, 30-year-old Kevin French, was not informed of the shooting and only found out the next day through social media, Galipo said. French was just released from the hospital about a week ago, he said. He has also undergone several surgeries, lost a kidney and experienced infections in many of his major organs, Galipo said. The bullet grazed his pancreas, piercing a vein, and surgeons are not sure how long it will take to repair, Russell French said. Russell French was shot in his abdomen, and the bullet did not exit his body, Galipo said. She required seven surgeries and is scheduled to have several more, Galipo said. The bullet that struck Paola French in the back exited through her stomach and put her in a coma for an extended period of time, Galipo said.
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