District attorney clears officers in fatal Ceres shooting

Two Ceres police officers who fatally shot a man last year were cleared of wrongdoing by the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office, but a lawsuit filed on behalf of the 8-year-old son of the man who was killed has just begun.

The district attorney released a letter Tuesday detailing findings that Officers Justin Canatsy and Jesus Salinas were justified in their actions on the evening of Jan. 5, 2016, when they shot Albert Thompson at an apartment complex on Don Pedro Road.

A lawsuit filed in federal court in November against the officers and the city of Ceres includes allegations of civil rights violations, excessive force and wrongful death. The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney’s fees in an amount to be determined at trial.

The lawsuit asserts that the officers tried to detain Thompson without reason or justification. But the district attorney’s letter says the officers had information that Thompson, a wanted parolee, was at the complex and possibly was armed.

The officers parked and split up as they walked into the dark parking lot of the complex, according to the letter. Canatsy saw a man, later identified as Thompson, in the parking lot and called Salinas to come to his location. As the officers approached, Thompson walked around a vehicle and away from them, according to the letter.

Salinas identified himself as “Ceres police” and Thompson ran. The officers pursued and, as Thompson ran around another vehicle, they again separated, “forming a triangle with Thompson as the apex.”

According to the letter, when Thompson became “blocked in,” he started to reach for something in his waistband. The letter says Thompson moved toward the rear of a vehicle while attempting to pull an object from his waistband.

The lawsuit says Thompson was unarmed, running away and posed no imminent threat of death or bodily injury to anyone.

Both officers yelled for Thompson to show his hands, according to the letter. He ignored commands, then “pulled a small dark metallic object out of his waistband area and pointed it at Officer Salinas,” the letter reads.

Canatsy later told investigators the object was being held like “someone shooting a firearm.”

The object was later determined to be a butane torch.

Both officers fired at Thompson as they moved for cover because they believed Thompson was firing at them, according to the letter.

“Thompson started to run away but continued to point the item at the officers,” the letter says. “Thompson made it further back into the parking lot where he collapsed.” He died at the scene.

The letter says the officers had a right to pursue Thompson to determine if he was the wanted parolee and to draw their weapons when he failed to comply with their orders. They acted in self-defense when they shot Thompson because they feared for their lives and reasonably assumed Thompson had a weapon when he pulled the metallic torch from his waistband, the district attorney concluded.

The lawsuit says the officers handcuffed Thompson after shooting him rather than providing immediate medical care. It claims the officers kept first responders away from Thompson initially, which delayed medical care and caused Thompson extreme physical and emotional pain and suffering that was a contributing factor in his death.

In December, attorneys for the city responded to the complaint filed by the plaintiffs, denying the allegations.

A scheduling conference is set for Feb. 16 in the U.S. Eastern District Court in Fresno.

This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 5:09 PM with the headline "District attorney clears officers in fatal Ceres shooting."