Photo: El Monte Police Department
EL MONTE (CNS) - Relatives of an El Monte police officer who was fatally shot along with his partner when they responded to a report of a stabbing at a local motel lashed out at the police department Monday, contending a dispatcher failed to warn the officers the suspect they were approaching was armed and high on drugs.
Officers Joseph Santana, 42, and Michael Paredes, 31, were fatally shot June 14, 2022, at the Siesta Inn, where suspect Justin Flores was staying with his wife.
According to recordings of a 911 call obtained by the Southern California News Group, Flores' wife, Maria Zepeda, frantically told a dispatcher that her husband had stabbed her daughter, and that he was armed with a gun, high on drugs and had a history of violence.
Santana's family contends that information was never relayed to the responding officers, who may have handled the confrontation differently.
At a news conference outside El Monte police headquarters Monday, Santana's sister said she wanted those responsible for the breakdown in communication to be "held accountable."
"My brother's life mattered, and we will not let his memory fade away," she said.
According to the SCNG report, a detective investigating the case told the Santana family last year that the information about Flores had been relayed to the officers through the computer-aided dispatch system, so they were aware of the circumstances. But the family insists the information should have been relayed to the officers verbally while they were responding to the scene.
El Monte Police Chief Jake Fisher said in a statement to SCNG that he supports the actions of the department in response to the shooting. He said the sheriff's department and the District Attorney's Office are both continuing to investigate the circumstances, but said thus far they have "found no wrongdoing by our police officers or civilian personnel."
"We fully anticipate this finding to hold and that our DA will officially clear all involved officers and close the investigation," Fisher said.
Last year, relatives of the slain officers filed lawsuits -- since largely dismissed -- contending that policies implemented by District Attorney George Gascón were responsible for Flores being out of custody at the time of the shooting.
They contended in the suit that Flores, 35, was placed on probation in a plea deal in 2021 after he was arrested in 2020 for being a felon in possession of a firearm and methamphetamine. Even though Flores had a prior felony conviction for burglary, Gascón issued a directive barring the prosecutor handling Flores' case from filing a strike allegation against him, the suit stated.
In doing so, Gascon disregarded California's "three strikes" law, which requires prosecutors to plead prior known strikes, the suit stated.
The plaintiffs' attorneys maintained that if Gascón had followed the law, Flores would have been sentenced to prison. After being put on probation in March 2021, Flores was only seen by his probation officer once -- although he was supposed to have monthly check-ins -- and Probation Department members never initiated a desertion proceeding as their own policies required, which would have forced a probation revocation, the suit stated.
A probation officer filed for a revocation of Flores' probation a day before the shootings, but Flores was not taken into custody, the suit stated. Flores died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head after he shot the officers.
Much of the litigation was dismissed late last year by a judge who questioned the legal arguments raised by the families.