Riverside County prosecutors on Wednesday announced they would not file criminal charges against an off-duty Los Angeles police officer who fatally shot an intellectually disabled man in June during a confrontation in a Costco store in Corona.
Dist. Atty. Mike Hestrin said prosecutors presented the case Sept. 9 to a Riverside grand jury of 19 people, which compelled testimony from witnesses inside the crowded warehouse store. Ultimately, the grand jury decided no charges were warranted against the off-duty officer, Salvador Sanchez, in the fatal shooting of Kenneth French, 32.
The district attorney’s office presented incriminating as well as exculpatory evidence to the grand jury, which California prosecutors are required to do, and Hestrin said his office solicited questions from an attorney who represents Sanchez, a patrol officer in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Southwest Division.
Hestrin could file charges despite the grand jury’s decision but said he would not do so because the minimum number of jurors — 12 of the 19 — didn’t find evidence to indict. He rejected the idea that Sanchez, as a law enforcement officer, received special… Los Angeles Times