Police Commission Rules Off-Duty LAPD Cop Violated Policy In Costco Incident

The Los Angeles Police Commission ruled Wednesday (June 10) that an off-duty LAPD officer violated department policy when he shot and killed a mentally ill man who attacked him at a Costco in Southern California last year.

Salvador Sanchez was out shopping together with his family at a Costco branch in Corona, California, when 32-year-old Kenneth French, a mentally disabled man, came up from behind and assaulted the seven-year LAPD veteran.

Sanchez was holding his son while getting food samples when he was hit on the right side of the head by French in an “unprovoked attack” on June 14, 2019, said the Los Angeles Times, citing a statement from LAPD Chief Michel Moore's 30-page report.

French and Sanchez did not appear to have had any contact prior to the incident, the outlet added.

Sanchez, who reportedly fell to the floor due to the blow, told investigators that he thought French had a gun and that his life and that of his son “were in imminent danger from an active shooter,” according to the Associated Press.

“The blow to the head was so forceful he believed he had been shot. When he awoke he was lying on the floor semi-unconscious. His baby was screaming and he thought he had been shot too,” Sanchez's lawyer, David Winslow, said in a statement.

Sanchez pulled out his own gun and fired two rounds at French. The latter collapsed, but Sanchez also told investigators that he still had a “concentrated, intense look in his eyes, still looking at me and my son.”

“I believe he still had that same gun, and I fired twice more in his direction at him,” added Sanchez.

The police officer fired a total of 10 rounds and hit French four times in the back and shoulder. His mother was also shot once in the stomach and his father once in the back, Corona Police Chief George Johnstone told Fox News.

The ruling favored Moore's recommendation that pointed to Sanchez withdrew his weapon “improperly and used deadly force.” Commissioners also pointed out that the use of lethal force was not “objectively reasonable” considering that French, who is mostly nonverbal, was not an “imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.

Despite the LAPD stripping him of his police powers and assigned him to home, Riverside County prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against Sanchez. French's parents, Russell and Paola, have sued the city of Los Angeles, arguing that it is liable for the officer's off-duty actions.

“They're obviously disappointed that there was no criminal prosecution, especially now with what's going on across the country with other cases they see.

At least with some, like George Floyd, there is going to be a prosecution. Many families are wondering, 'Why not in my case?'” said the couple's lawyer, Dale Galipo.