A federal jury awarded $17 million in damages on Wednesday to the family of a mentally disabled man who was fatally shot by an off-duty Los Angeles police officer inside a Costco in Corona.
The jury’s verdict came a day after U.S. District Judge Jesus G. Bernal found that Officer Salvador Sanchez used excessive and unreasonable force in June 2019 when he shot and killed 32-year-old Kenneth French. The shooting followed a brief confrontation between the two men in line to sample sausages.
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.
The L.A. Police Commission found that he violated department policy in the shooting of French and his parents, who were seriously wounded.
Read the full story at LATimes.com.