It took more than a year but a San Bernardino police officer is no longer on the force for shooting and killing an unarmed man in an incident captured on a body-worn camera.
But it’s still not clear whether Brandon Gaddie was fired or simply resigned. Odds are, he was forced to resign.
The incident took place on September 28, 2018 after Gaddie and San Bernardino police officer John Baltas responded to a domestic disturbance involving a man threatening family members with a gun.
When officers arrived, they spotted Richard Sanchez through the open door of the home holding the gun in his hand, so they ordered him to drop it.
The video shows Sanchez placing the gun on the arm of a sofa, then walking towards the officers who then order him to place his hands up, which he does but continues walking towards the officer.
“Stop! Stop moving!” Gaddie shouts before firing five shots.
Sanchez, 27, was pronounced dead that night at a local hospital.
According to the San Bernardino Sun:
“Upon completion of our internal investigation and review process, we’ve concluded that one of our officer’s decision-making did not meet the standards held by our department or the community we serve,” McBride said in the video. “As a result he no longer works for the San Bernardino Police Department.”
The shooting is under review by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office to determine if a crime was committed.
“Our administrative review process does not make a determination about whether the officer’s actions were lawful,” McBride said in the video. “The determination of the lawfulness of the shooting will be made by the District Attorney’s Office, which is currently reviewing the incident.”
The District Attorney’s Office received the case in December and is reviewing it.
“We will do a thorough review regarding whether or not the shooting was legally justified,” said a statement issued Friday by the DA’s Office.
Gaddie had been a San Bernardino police officer since at least 2017, according to public records. Prior to that, he had been a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy since 2013.
In 2011, a 19-year-old man named Brandon Gaddie was cited in Lake Arrowhead in San Bernardino County for making a “poor decision” by firing a .22 rifle at a bottle hanging from the tree in the direction of a lake, putting others at risk, according to the Mountain News.
