The family of slain El Monte police Officer Joseph Santana marched in protest outside the El Monte Police Department on Monday, Jan. 29, over a dispatcher’s failure to verbally communicate that the man who shot and killed him and another officer was armed with a gun and under the influence of PCP.
Family members said they are not pursuing legal action against the city or seeking monetary compensation, but demanded that the dispatchers responsible for the communication failures be fired.
“We’re just here to bring awareness and to hold those accountable,” said Santana’s sister, Jessica Santana, during the protest.
Over the blare of honking horns from passing vehicles, Santana’s sister, Bianca Santana, played a recording over a bullhorn that said “El Monte PD dispatchers failed my brother, Joseph Santana!”
More than a dozen family members gathered outside the department after the Southern California News Group reported that veteran dispatcher Kristen Juaregui failed to inform Santana, 31, Cpl. Michael Paredes, 42, and Sgt. Eric Sanchez over the radio that suspect Justin Flores was reported to have a gun and be under the influence of PCP and methamphetamine when the officers responded to a domestic violence call at the Siesta Inn about 5 p.m. on June 14, 2022.
911 call
Maria Zepeda, the mother of Flores’ wife, made a frantic 911 at 4:58 p.m. that day informing dispatcher Ruth Bonneau that her daughter’s friend had called her and told her that her daughter, Diana Flores Cruz, had been stabbed by Flores at the motel. Zepeda also told Bonneau during the 7-minute, 20-second call that Flores had choked her daughter in Pico Rivera and had been hospitalized on a psychiatric hold the week prior.
Zepeda also told Bonneau that Flores showed up to her home three days prior to the shooting with a gun, prompting a police response to her home that included a helicopter, according to the 911 call.
When Bonneau asked Zepeda if she had seen Flores with a…
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