Modesto man suffered fatal brain hemorrhage in custody. DA says it was an accident
A Modesto man who died in police custody likely sustained the brain hemorrhage that killed him when he fell to the ground at the beginning of a five-minute struggle with Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputies, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Alejandro Sanchez approached deputies for help at a truck stop on South Seventh Street on May 5, 2018, because he believed someone had stolen and replaced the frame of the vehicle he had just purchased. An autopsy report determined that he was “intoxicated with methamphetamine” at the time.
A struggle ensued after Sanchez reportedly become uncooperative, tried to stand up from the seated position he was told to stay in, and was either pushed or fell to the ground.
The six deputies involved in the incident told investigators they used “control holds” and their own physical weight, sometimes kneeling on his body parts, to subdue him and get him into handcuffs and a restraint. They said they never used any weapons and never struck him with their fists or hands.
The deputies were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in a letter signed by District Attorney Birgit Fladager and Assistant District Attorney Dave Harris and released on Friday. It concludes that Sanchez’s death was accidental, a result of the fall.
“However, even if it were determined that the injury occurred during the subsequent attempted arrest of Sanchez, the use of force by those involved was minimal (not excessive) and justified,” the letter reads.
Deputy Shane Rohn and his trainee Deputy Bret Babbitt and Deputy Eugene Day and his trainee Justin Camara were involved in the initial struggle. Two other deputies and a sergeant arrived toward the end.
The reports also detailed an encounter Sanchez had with Ceres police just moments before his interaction with deputies.
The Ceres interaction was captured on their body cameras, but the Sheriff’s Department was not using body cameras at the time.
Stanislaus sheriff’s detectives individually interviewed all of the involved deputies. The following is the deputies’ account of what occurred based on detectives’ reports, which were released to The Bee under a Public Records Act request:
Prior to the struggle, Sanchez was sweating, pacing and making comments about his vehicle that didn’t make sense.
Rohn told Sanchez to sit down on a curb while a dispatcher ran his name and the VIN number of the vehicle and found the registration to be expired and listed as Planned Non-operational.
The deputies explained this to Sanchez and told him his vehicle would be towed.
Sanchez remained compliant as one of them began writing the ticket but asked them to “hurry up” so he could leave.
Sanchez then asked if he could use his phone to call someone for a ride. But when he got on the phone, he began repeatedly screaming, “Come and help me, they are trying to kill me,” according to Rohn’s account, and then tried to “pop up” from a seated position.
Babbitt put his hand on Sanchez’s shoulder and told him to remain seated, but he didn’t. That’s when Sanchez suffered what is believed to be the fatal impact to his head, but how this occurred isn’t clear.
The District Attorney’s letter says Sanchez “became entangled with Dep. Babbitt who now had hold of Sanchez’s hand. Sanchez and Dep. Babbitt ended up falling to the ground.”
Deputy Rohn said they “pushed (Sanchez) to the ground into a prone position on his chest and face,” according to a report. Day said Babbitt was closest to Sanchez and “pushed away from him.”
“Deputy Day was unsure if Deputy Babbitt physically pushed (Sanchez) to the ground or if the motion of him pushing away from (Sanchez) caused him to lose balance and fall to the ground,” a report reads.
Once on the ground and on his stomach, Sanchez had his hands under his body and the deputies told him to stop resisting.
They repeated this order throughout the approximately five-minute struggle to get him into handcuffs and eventually a restraint device.
During the struggle, Sanchez was reportedly spitting at deputies, reached toward Rohn’s Taser, and bit Babbitt on the arm, all the while continuing to scream for help and proclaiming that deputies were trying to kill him. Day also cut his finger on handcuffs.
Rohn said Sanchez — who was 6 foot, 3 inches tall and 230 pounds — exhibited “abnormal super strength” and at one point pushed himself off the ground with the weight of three deputies on his upper body.
Babbitt said that was when he and Day each were able to get a handcuff on Sanchez’s wrists and combined the two in the center.
Deputies Joseph Knittel and Zeb Poust and Sgt. Hector Longoria arrived at the scene some time after that.
Knittel got a WRAP, a leg restraint with a shoulder harness designed to put a combative person in an upright seated position.
The deputies said Sanchez continued to thrash around while they applied the WRAP.
“They eventually had to pin (Sanchez’s) head down in order to gain compliance,” according to one report.
Another report reads, ”Deputy Poust placed his knee up against the subject’s head to where Deputy Poust’s shin was parallel to the ground … The subject’s head was never touching the ground.”
Sanchez needed to be medically cleared at a hospital, according to the reports, although it is unclear if it was because of the struggle or because they intended to place him on a psychiatric hold.
When deputies learned there would be an extended response for an ambulance, Sgt. Longoria made the decision for Rohn and Babbitt to transport Sanchez to the hospital in their patrol car.
Sanchez became unresponsive on the way to the hospital and was pronounced dead shortly after arriving there.
According to one detective’s report, the pathologist said it does not take much trauma to cause the type of hemorrhage Sanchez experienced.
A sheriff detective’s report says the pathologist’s opinion is that the “hemorrhage was due to (Sanchez’s) head striking the ground while struggling with deputies.”
The District Attorney’s report said the pathologist believes the “injury was consistent with a fall.”
The opinion on the autopsy report says Sanchez’s “head struck the ground while he struggled with police. Multiple injuries to the face, left chest and extremities indicate a struggle.”
Sanchez’s mother is suing the deputies and the Sheriff’s Department for wrongful death and other civil and constitutional rights violations.
Her Sacramento-based attorney, Mark Merin, said Tuesday, “He died from his head hitting with some significant force. How come they don’t say in any of the reports Mr. Sanchez smashed his head into the sidewalk. They didn’t acknowledge that it happened, which is a pretty clear indication that they were responsible for it.”
He said Sanchez was treated like a criminal instead of someone who needed mental health or detox treatment.
A detective’s report and District Attorney’s letter also summarize an encounter Sanchez had with Ceres police just five minutes before he approached the sheriff’s deputies.
During this encounter, Sanchez also appeared paranoid and under the influence and again was making bizarre statements about his vehicle.
A Ceres sergeant said to Sanchez, “You have smoked way too much weed” and “I’m telling you right now you’ve lost your mind.”
The sergeant continued, “You need to get professional help ... Be careful because something’s not right upstairs.”
Sanchez reported that the theft to the part of his vehicle occurred in Ripon, so the sergeant — whose name was redacted from the report — told him to go there and not come back.
He drove north, and that’s when he spotted the deputies at the truck stop.
