The household of a slain El Monte police officer blames two emergency dispatchers for failing to inform the officer and his associate that they have been on their strategy to confront a doable armed suspect excessive on PCP earlier than the gunman ambushed and killed them.
Officer Joseph Santana and Sgt. Michael Paredes have been responding to a home violence name on June 14, 2022, once they have been ambushed by Joseph Flores, a felon out on probation, who was dwelling at a motel together with his spouse.
The officers have been conscious of the fundamentals of the decision: A girl might have been stabbed by her husband. What the officers weren’t verbally informed was that the suspect had a historical past of violence together with his spouse, was armed with a gun and was excessive on PCP, in response to reporting by the Los Angeles Day by day Information. The incident remains to be below investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division and the district lawyer’s workplace.
“Having that data may have allowed them to concentrate on the risk that they have been going through, probably even sparing their lives,” Santana’s sister Bianca Santana mentioned Monday outdoors the El Monte police station throughout a protest.
Family and friends wore black T-shirts emblazoned with Santana’s face, and his father, Joe Santana, held an indication that learn, “My Son’s Life Mattered.” The protesters demanded the Police Division fireplace the 2 emergency dispatchers who took the 911 name and relayed the data to the officers within the discipline.
Paredes and Santana have been fatally shot on the lodge in what police describe as an ambush. Flores ended up taking his personal life throughout a shootout with officers within the motel parking zone.
The 911 name that set off the collection of occasions was made by Maria Zepeda, Flores’ mother-in-law, in response to an audio recording obtained by the Day by day Information. Zepeda informed the dispatcher that Flores stabbed her daughter and he had just lately abused her.
“He’s on PCP. He has a gun,” Zepeda informed emergency dispatcher Ruth Bonneau, in response to the information outlet.
When the officers bought the decision shortly earlier than 5 p.m. dispatcher Kristen Juaregui didn’t relay details about the suspect presumably being armed. However she did enter that data into the decision report, which the officers would have learn from inside their police cruiser, the Day by day Information reported. Santana’s household weren’t conscious of these particulars till the information story broke over the weekend, mentioned Satana’s spouse, Sasha Santana.
Santana’s twin 3-year-old boys, Jakob and Joshua, joined their household whereas carrying protest indicators together with their stuffed animals.
“I don’t need anybody else to undergo what we undergo,” she mentioned, renewing her name for the division to reprimand the dispatchers and terminate their employment. “I don’t want them to set foot in one other police division. I’m indignant. My husband wouldn’t have been knocking nonchalantly on that lodge door if he was conscious of what was going to occur. If he was conscious that there was a person in there armed and on PCP.”
Members of the family mentioned they consider the officers are unfairly being partly blamed for their very own deaths, as a result of pertinent particulars in regards to the 911 name have been fed to the officers in a written replace whereas they have been racing to the motel. Sasha Santana mentioned that the officers would haven’t had the time to learn that replace.
It has felt as if the division has ignored the household’s well-being, Joe Santana mentioned.
“Nobody got here to us and mentioned, ‘We tousled, we’re sorry,’” Joe Santana mentioned as he sobbed in entrance of the station. “I do know my son was new, however he was proud to be a part of the El Monte PD household.”
Paredes, 42, was sworn into the El Monte Police Division in 2000. Santana, 31, joined the division a few yr earlier than the taking pictures.
Santana’s household doesn’t condemn all of the officers with the Police Division, however believes management have hid very important data that led to the 2 officers’ deaths.
“We would seem robust as we stand right here looking for justice, however internally we’re full of anger and ache,” mentioned Santana’s sister Jessica Santana as her voice broke. “And it’s that ache that fuels us to combat for the reality.”
The taking pictures and response to the incident is a part of an ongoing investigation by the Sheriff’s Division and the district lawyer’s workplace, in response to an announcement from El Monte Police Chief Jake Fisher.
“Collectively we’re shifting ahead as we collectively proceed to grieve and recuperate from the horrific occasion,” the assertion mentioned.
After interviewing witnesses, reviewing police digital camera footage, reviews and name logs, Fisher mentioned, the Sheriff’s Division and district lawyer’s investigators have discovered there was no “wrongdoing by our law enforcement officials or civilian personnel.” However the investigation has not concluded, and it’s unclear when the findings might be made public.
“We absolutely anticipate this discovering to carry and that our D.A. will formally clear all concerned officers and shut the investigation,” the assertion mentioned.
Wyatt Reneer, president of the El Monte Police Officers Assn., attended the protest in help of the Santana household, but in addition in help of the officers and dispatchers with the division.
“Our dispatchers, our officers, everybody right here is doing their job to the most effective of their means, and so they’re doing the proper factor,” Reneer mentioned.
Santana’s mom, Olga Garcia, mentioned: “There was no worse feeling in my life than shedding my son. Studying a yr later that there was data he didn’t have that might have saved his life, data he may have used to guard himself and his associate, it shatters my coronary heart every day that goes by.”
