By Leela Bronner
OAKLAND, CA – California Attorney General Rob Bonta this week unveiled a report addressing the officer-involved shooting death of John Alaniz in Paramount, California, on May 4, 2022, determining no criminal charges will be filed against the California Highway Patrol (CHP).
DOJ said a comprehensive investigation was aimed to ensure “transparency and accountability in law enforcement practices” but found that “criminal charges were not appropriate in this case,” according to a press release by the state’s Office of the Attorney General.
The Office of the Attorney General’s news release noted, “On May 4, 2022, California Highway Patrol Officers responded to a report of a male running into traffic in the westbound lanes of 105 Freeway.” Officers fatally shot the man (Alaniz) after he “charged in their direction while pointing what appeared to be a firearm at them.”
According to the official incident report, Alaniz was struck by a semi-trailer truck prior to police arrival. The report states after the “collision, Mr. Alaniz got back to his feet and attempted to place his head underneath the wheels of a semi-trailer truck in an adjacent lane that stopped due to the initial collision.
“Witnesses called 911 and told dispatchers that Alaniz was “trying to kill himself,” according to the report, and it was broadcast on the CHP radio frequency the “Caller advised a pedestrian may have jumped in front of the big rig on purpose.” Alaniz, the report said, then made several more attempts to run into oncoming traffic.
When police arrived, the DOJ said, Officer Van Dragt “positioned his patrol vehicle between Officer Silva and Mr. Alaniz” and “exited his vehicle and unholstered his firearm.” Alaniz was ordered to show his hands, but witnesses say he “ignored Officer Silva’s commands” and “produced a black and rectangular object from his sweatshirt pocket and pointed it at Officer Van Dragt as if he was in possession of a firearm.”
The object that was mistaken for a weapon was “later determined to be a grey eyeglass case containing a glass pipe,” according to the DOJ report.
The report states that “Officer Van Dragt deployed his taser,” and as Officer Silva observed the conflict, he “fired five rounds at Mr. Alaniz causing him to fall to the ground.”
According to the release, the DOJ’s investigation into the shooting of Alaniz “concluded that the evidence does not show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the deputy involved acted without the intent to defend himself and others from what he reasonably believed to be imminent death or serious bodily injury.”
The DOJ added it decided “there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution of the deputy” and “no further action will be taken in this case.”
Following the investigation, the DOJ made several policy recommendations to “help prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future,” including improving communications protocols for the deployment of Electronic Control Devices, implementing the widespread use of Body-Worn Cameras (BWCs) among CHP officers, enhancing radio communication equipment and training, updating use-of-force policies, and promoting greater transparency through the public posting of law enforcement standards and procedures on the CHP website.
Notably, the DOJ report highlights how the CHP “does not equip all of its officers with BWCs,” and while “CHP patrol vehicles do have a Wireless Mobile Video/Audio Recording System (WMVARS)…the interaction with Mr. Alaniz did not occur directly in front of a CHP patrol vehicle’s WMVARS, which limited the ability to assess the incident fully.”
