The family of a slain El Monte police officer blames two emergency operators for not telling the officer and his partner that they were on their way to confront a possible armed suspect high on PCP before the gunman ambushed them and will kill.
Officer Joseph Santana and Sgt. Michael Paredes was responding to a domestic violence call on June 14, 2022, when they were ambushed by Joseph Flores, a felon on parole, who was living in a motel with his wife.
Officers knew the basics of the call: A woman may have been stabbed by her husband. What was not verbally told to officers was that the suspect had a history of violence with his wife, he was armed with a gun and was high on PCP, according to a Los Angeles Daily News report. The incident is still under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the district attorney's office.
“Having that information could have allowed them to be aware of the threat they faced, and even potentially spare their lives,” Santana's sister, Bianca Santana, said Monday outside the El Monte police station during a protest.
Friends and family wore black T-shirts emblazoned with Santana's face, and his father, Joe Santana, held a sign that read, “My son's life mattered.” Protesters demanded that the Police Department fire the two emergency operators who took the 911 call and relayed the information to officers in the field.
Paredes and Santana were shot to death at the hotel in what police describe as an ambush. Flores ended up taking his own life during a shootout with officers in the motel parking lot.
The 911 call that triggered the series of events was made by María Zepeda, Flores' mother-in-law, according to an audio recording obtained by the Daily News. Zepeda told the operator that Flores stabbed her daughter and that he had recently abused her.
“He is taking PCP. He has a gun,” Zepeda told emergency operator Ruth Bonneau, according to the news outlet.
When officers received the call shortly before 5 p.m., operator Kristen Juaregui did not relay information about the possibility that the suspect was armed. But she did enter that information into the call report, which officers reportedly read from inside their police cruiser, the Daily News reported. Santana's family was unaware of those details until the news broke over the weekend, said Satana's wife, Sasha Santana.
Santana's 3-year-old twin sons, Jakob and Joshua, joined their family as they held protest signs along with their stuffed animals.
“I don't want anyone else to go through what we went through,” he said, renewing his call for the department to reprimand dispatchers and fire its employees. “I don't want them to set foot in another police department. I'm angry. My husband would not have been knocking nonchalantly on the door of that hotel if he had known what was going to happen. If he knew that there was a man there armed and with PCP.”
Family members said they believe the officers are being unfairly blamed in part for their own deaths because pertinent details about the 911 call were given to the officers in a written update as they rushed to the motel. Sasha Santana said officers would not have had time to read that update.
It feels like the department has ignored the family's well-being, Joe Santana said.
“Nobody came to us and said, 'We made a mistake, we're sorry,'” Joe Santana said as he sobbed outside the station. “I know my son was new, but he was proud to be part of the El Monte Police Department family.”
Paredes, 42, was sworn into the El Monte Police Department in 2000. Santana, 31, joined the department about a year before the shooting.
Santana's family does not condemn all officers in the Police Department, but believes leaders have withheld vital information that led to the deaths of the two officers.
“We may seem strong while we are here seeking justice, but internally we are full of anger and pain,” Santana's sister, Jessica Santana, said, her voice breaking. “And it is that pain that drives us to fight for the truth.”
The shooting and the response to the incident are part of an ongoing investigation by the Sheriff's Department and the district attorney's office, according to a statement from El Monte Police Chief Jake Fisher.
“Together we are moving forward as we continue to collectively grieve and recover from the horrific event,” the statement said.
After interviewing witnesses, reviewing police camera footage, reports and call logs, Fisher said, the Sheriff's Department and district attorney's investigators found there were “no unlawful actions by our police officers or civilian personnel.” . But the investigation has not concluded and it is unclear when the findings will be made public.
“We fully anticipate that this finding will stand and that our district attorney will officially exonerate all officers involved and close the investigation,” the statement said.
Wyatt Reneer, president of the El Monte Police Officers Association, attended the protest in support of the Santana family, but also in support of the department's officers and dispatchers.
“Our dispatchers, our officers, everyone here is doing their job to the best of their ability and they're doing the right thing,” Reneer said.
Santana's mother, Olga García, said: “There has been no worse feeling in my life than losing my son. Knowing a year later that there was information that he did not have that could have saved his life, information that he could have used to protect himself and his partner, breaks my heart with each passing day.”
