Settlement reached in lawsuit over fatal Ceres police shooting in 2016
A lawsuit against Ceres involving its police fatally shooting a fleeing person in the back has been resolved. It was one of three such settlements the city recently has reached.
The litigation was settled for $230,000. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in November 2016 on behalf of the dead man’s young son, and it was dismissed in September.
Settlements recently were reached involving Ceres police in two other fatal officer-involved shootings, including one in which an officer shot a fleeing suspect in the back, for a combined $4.1 million. Those shootings occurred in 2017 and 2018.
The city’s insurance resolved all of the lawsuits, including negotiating and paying the settlements.
This lawsuit came as a result of Ceres police shooting Albert Billy Thompson, 28, on the night of Jan. 5, 2016, in a dark, poorly lit parking lot of an apartment complex at 2601 Don Pedro Road.
He was not armed, but the two officers said he pointed what they believed to be a handgun at them. The officers said Thompson continued to point it as them as he ran from them, with his upper body twisted toward the officers as he pointed what they believed to be a gun.
One officer believed Thompson was shooting at them.
There was no handgun. But authorities found a butane torch, which resembles a handgun, by Thompson’s body, according to court records.
The attorney representing Ceres said butane torches can be used to light methamphetamine pipes. The drug was found in Thompson’s body, and the apartment complex was known for drug dealing, according to court records.
The Stanislaus County district attorney’s office reported Thompson also had meth and a meth pipe in his possession.
The fatal encounter was over in seconds. The two officers fired about 20 rounds in three volleys at Thompson, and two bullets struck him in the back.
“According to the dispatch recording, approximately 14 seconds elapsed between the time that the officers reported to dispatch that they had ‘one running’ from them and then reporting ‘shots fired’,” according to court records.
Officers looking for parolee
One of the officers believed he reported to dispatch that shots had been fired after the third volley.
Officers Justin Canatsy and Jesus Salinas were at the apartment complex because an informant had told Canatsy a wanted parolee-at-large might be there. The parolee was reportedly armed and dangerous.
Thompson was not that man.
For their own safety, the officers had covered their badges with black latex gloves so light would not reflect off the badges. As they waited outside the complex, Canatsy spotted a man, later identified as Thompson, walk out of the parking lot entrance.
The officers believed he might be the parolee. But it was dark and Thompson’s dark clothing caused him to blend into his surroundings. Canatsy said he identified himself and Salinas as police officers and asked Thompson to come to them. But Thompson said, “What’s up guys,” before walking back into the parking lot, according to court records.
The officers followed. They testified in depositions that Thompson had his hands by his waistband or pocket while looking back at them. The officers testified Thompson then turned and faced the officers before continuing to back away. He then ran from them.
The officers said Thompson then stopped and faced them and drew what they believed to be a handgun from his waistband or pocket and pointed it at them. They drew their guns and fired.
The officers said Thompson then ran while bent over and twisting his upper body back toward them and pointing what they believed to be the handgun at them.
The officers pursued Thompson, took cover behind parked vehicles, and fired a second volley. Thompson continued to flee but then fell. The officers said Thompson reached on the ground for what officers believed to be the handgun, sat up and pointed it at one of them. The officers had taken cover and fired a third volley.
Judge wouldn’t toss lawsuit
Before reaching the settlement, Ceres’ attorney had asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit through what is called summary judgment.
Some of the lawsuit’s allegations were dismissed, but U.S. Chief District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill did not dismiss others, including the wrongful death allegation.
“The direction that (Thompson) was facing and whether he was continuously pointing a gun-like object at the officers while running away at the time that he was shot are disputed facts and the record provides support for multiple interpretations and conclusions,” O’Neill wrote in concluding a jury would need to sort out these issues.
O’Neill also wrote the jury would need to consider other critical facts in determining whether the officers’ use of force was reasonable. Those facts included the poor lighting, that Thompson did not have a gun, the brevity of the entire encounter, and that the cars in the parking lot provided the officers with protection.
The pathologist who conducted the autopsy recovered two bullets from Thompson’s back. The bullets’ trajectories “go from left to right, back to front and slightly upward,” according to court records.
“It is undisputed that Thompson was shot in the back,” O’Neill wrote in a court document. “(B)ased on the upward slant of the bullet trajectories, Thompson was likely in a bent position, running away when he was shot.”
There is no body camera footage from the shooting because the Ceres Police Department was not using cameras then, according to the attorney who represented the city in the lawsuit. The two officers are the only witnesses to the shooting.
Ceres Police Chief Richard Collins declined to comment but in a previous story he said police officers face making decisions in difficult circumstances.
“I will just say this (as a general statement),” he said. “We have to make split-second decisions based on situations, which are right then and there. It’s easy for anybody to come in and say, ‘I would do that, or this, or that looks horrible.’ But we were not in the officer’s shoes when it took place.”
The lawsuit was brought by Thompson’s young son through his mother serving as his guardian in federal court in Fresno. The $230,000 settlement was divided into $92,000 for attorneys fees and $5,179 in costs. The balance — $132,821 — went into an annuity, a type of investment, for the son.
Court records state the 11-year-old son will start receiving payments when he turns 18 in 2026. He will receive eight payments totaling $203,935 from 2026 to 2038.
Ceres was represented by the San Francisco law firm of Allen, Glaessner, Hazelwood & Werth and Thompson’s son was represented by the Los Angeles firm of York & Garvey.
Attorney Dale Allen said Ceres was willing to settle to avoid the expense and uncertainty of a trial and added Thompson’s family was willing to settle for an amount that was acceptable.
Attorney Darrell York said Thompson’s family believed it was in his son’s best interest to settle and put the matter behind them. He said if the lawsuit had gone to trial the boy faced having to testify about the impact of losing his father.
“The mother did not want to put the son through the impact of a trial,” York said.
DA: Officers acted in self-defense
The district attorney’s office determined Canatsy and Salinas acted in self-defense and that they feared for their safety and the safety of others.
“The movements that Thompson made, his behavior and finally pointing the object at the officers would lead any reasonable officer to believe they were confronting an armed suspect,” according to a January 2017 letter the office sent to the Ceres Police Department.
Salinas continues to work for Ceres police, and Canatsy now works for Modesto police.
The district attorney’s office conducts its review under the higher standard of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt than the civil standard of a preponderance of the evidence in determining whether a shooting is justified.
There wasn’t any evidence that Canatsy and Salinas knew or recognized Thompson, according to Judge O’Neill, so they would not have known there was a warrant for his arrest.
A warrant had been issued for Thompson in January 2015 after he failed to check in with the Ceres parole office in November 2014, according to Stanislaus Superior Court records.
Thompson was on parole after being released from prison in July 2014 after pleading guilty in May 2013 to assault after striking another man and knocking him out. He was a transient and was required to check in weekly with the parole office.
Thompson did not live at the complex at the time of the shooting but was visiting someone, according his son’s attorney.
This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 1:42 PM.
