FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 The family of a Fresno man shot and killed by a state parole officer on Christmas Eve in 2024 has filed a civil lawsuit against the state of California, alleging the deadly encounter should never have happened.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, says 35-year-old Jeremy Raul Sanchez was unarmed when he was shot three times, including once in the back, outside his family\u2019s home on Dec. 24, 2024.<\/p>\n
According to the complaint, Sanchez had just arrived at his family’s Fresno home to celebrate Christmas Eve when his state parole officer showed up unannounced. <\/p>\n
The lawsuit alleges the officer did not explain why he was there.<\/p>\n
Family members were inside the home at the time, expecting Sanchez to join them, according to the family\u2019s attorney, Stuart Chandler.<\/p>\n
Chandler says the encounter quickly escalated. <\/p>\n
The lawsuit alleges the parole officer used pepper spray, causing Sanchez to cover his face and walk away, across the front lawn.<\/p>\n
As Sanchez walked away, the complaint alleges the officer opened fire. <\/p>\n
Sanchez was shot three times and collapsed in the driveway.<\/p>\n
One thing that is not part of the protocol is to shoot an unarmed person as they are running away.<\/p>\n
Chandler said during a press conference held Tuesday outside the state\u2019s parole office in Fresno.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit says Sanchez died at the scene despite life-saving efforts by his mom, who is a nurse and an employee of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
Chandler says Sanchez had a history of mental illness and should have been met with de-escalation, rather than force.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know he\u2019s got issues with mental illness,\u201d Chandler said. <\/p>\n
The civil lawsuit names both the parole officer involved and the state of California as defendants.<\/p>\n
It alleges failures in training, supervision, and oversight and seeks damages for wrongful death and emotional distress.<\/p>\n
Chandler says they previously filed a claim with the state but never got a response. <\/p>\n
He also says the California Department of Justice’s Office completed a criminal investigation into the shooting, but has not said whether the parole officer will face discipline or charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to know what happened here,\u201d Chandler said. \u201cBut if it\u2019s systemic with the department in a broader way, we\u2019d like to see change.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to FOX 26, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it does not comment on pending or active litigation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 The family of a Fresno man shot and killed by a state parole officer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-107615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}