From the Office of the District Attorney:
Martinez, Calif. –
Today, Contra Costa Sheriff Deputy Andrew Hall was sentenced to six years state prison for assault with a firearm and inflicting great bodily injury upon Laudemer Aboleda in downtown Danville on November 3, 2018.
As found by the jury, Deputy Andrew Hall unreasonably shot Laudemer Aboleda. This sentence is reflective of the gravity of the crime Deputy Hall committed. Deputy’s Hall’s actions were dangerous, unreasonable, and excessive. In sentencing the defendant to prison, the Court recognized the need for accountability in Deputy Hall’s decision to fire multiple times at Laudemer Aboleda, taking his life.
No sentence imposed will bring Laudemer Aboleda back to his family. The sentence imposed today is proportionate to the egregious shooting committed by a law enforcement officer who took the life of one man, and in doing so endangered the lives of his fellow officers and civilians.
We respect the ruling of the judge and extend our condolences to the family of Laudemer Arboleda.
While this appears to be a marginal shooting from the video, it was not horrendous or deserving of jail time.
I just spent an hour with a recently retired Milpitas officer, he concurs with me that in today’s liberal California, don’t count on the police to protect you, they will try and show up five minutes after an assault, why take the chance of going to jail.
Be prepared.
108RS
People think the police exist to protect citizens? Why would they think that? The criminals are long gone by the time police arrive. If calling the police is someone’s personal protection plan, they will be in for a rude awakening when they’re a victim of a crime. You call the police to report the crime or to clean up the mess. You don’t call them because you’re in trouble. You have nobody to rely on but yourself when criminals attack. And, it’s always been that way.
Saving,
Your statement is not factually correct. During my law enforcement career, I stopped many crimes from happening both on and off duty. I would be less inclined to do so today because of the increasing liability brought about by our elected officials and their supporters.
108RS
The police do not now and never have existed to protect citizens from crimes in progress. They exist to investigate crimes, take reports/statements, and make traffic stops.
In terms of being victimized, people must protect themselves. Relying on the police to help you is foolhardy. Criminals (with the exception of domestic abusers) complete their attacks long before police arrive and sometimes even before police are notified that an assault has occurred.
@Saving- while I agree with the statement that individuals should never count on LE to protect them, in my 28 year career I personally have on numerous occasions. Just happened to be close enough to witness it or get there while in progress. True those instances were few and far between but they happened. Another item to add to your list is
deterrence, it’s a fact that mere police presence does deter crime.
There is so much more to the job then what you list and if you’d ever done the job you’d understand. I’d argue that officers are expected to wear so many hats that it’s often a contributing factor when things go wrong.
As for this case it’s obvious the eventual court outcome was not so cut and dry, as it took the DA a year to charge picking a time when the entire country was being media driven to paint all police with one brush as brutal racists thugs. A jury was presented evidence and came to a conclusion (hopefully not tainted by the current anti LE climate) and that’s how the system works. I don’t believe the system is perfect but it’s what we have and it’s far better then any other I know of.
Officers are individuals and as individuals we all make decisions based on our personal experiences and training. I have seen the videos of both incidents this Deputy was involved in and of the two I can understand why this incident could be viewed differently by the public. I can also add that based on my training I can see why it happened the way it did.
just glad I’m retired
“a marginal shooting” says Officer Bruisome. The young man is dead. He was shot and killed by nine shots at close range while driving at 6 mph around police vehicles, not through them. This apologizing for police misconduct, police incompetence, is appalling! Consider for a moment some modicum of justice and set the politicking aside!
Yes, “marginal” doesn’t begin to describe this tragedy adequately. How about lethal or fatal – a man is dead as a result and there is nothing marginal about that.
The car was coming at the deputy for a period of time before veering away, that is why it is a marginal shooting, things happen fast. And you’ve likely never been in one of those situations, I have. 108RS
Cmon Jeff, none of the other officers charged at the vehicle like he did. No Leo is ever at fault in your world.
David,
Not true, the guy in the LFloyd case was at fault, for manslaughter and should have gotten 3-5 years
This disgusts me. The man was throwing rocks onto the interstate trying to hurt random people. AROUND THE SAME TIME, I woman was KILLED YES KILLED in Concord from this same type of behavior, and another lost their eye and received extensive head injuries.
Then the guy tries to escape and follows zero commands from law enforcement. I’m sure had he escaped he would have probably gone on to work at Nasa or JPL and he wouldn’t have immediately gone back to hurt other random people equipped with a 4,000 lb hunk of metal.
This is the perfect way to alienate police so they no longer want to do the job and criminals can continue to attack random people.
When people do violent criminal acts on random people to me they become the last person to give a crap about, but in this state they are the first person, always marginalized and never their fault. Why? cause controversy makes money baby. I for one am completely ok with the fact there is 1 less violent person to hurt my family and friends.
The justice system is failing.
Different instance, YHHH – though same deputy.
“This disgusts me.” Your strong belief based on misinformation is compelling, but not in a healthy way. Trust the jury in this. They were compelled to hear evidence from both sides and give careful consideration.
My mistake, thanks for correcting me. So this is the rock thrower and then said he was going to kill the officer and the shooting takes place in the middle of the street, different than the incident of the car trying to maneuver around the cop cars and then being shot. But both were the same deputy. Which one was the officer sentenced for? Sorry I did not mean to confuse the information.
YHHH –
This instance started out as a suspicious occurrence with Mr. Arboleda aimlessly approaching some homes in the area, then bolting in his car when police attempted to stop him. The shooting occurred when police used their cars to block his path and he attempted to steer around them – Deputy Hall saying he felt threatened by the approaching car and opening fire in defense of his life.
This is so pathetic. Three years after the incident, the D.A. just happens to charge him the very next day after the verdict in the George Floyd trial. The D.A.’s office initially was okay with the incident. The Sheriff’s Office own Internal Affairs unit cleared him, and now he’s charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison? I am retiring today, after 37 years. The risk of this job is not worth it. If you have an emergency, call the D.A. and ask her to handle it.
Paul,
Thanks for your service and a good decision to get out until some Republicans with common sense get elected on a statewide basis. My godson works for San Mateo SO and I was a reserve for sixteen years.
People, you’re on your own out there, get some training.
108RS
“If you have an emergency, call the D.A. and ask her to handle it”
Love it.
Would not want to be the prosecuting attorney on this type of case.
I applaud your choice.
I concur with fellow posters, this is a travesty of justice.
I support our Police.
I support the rule of law which places juries, not police or folks commenting on a website, in the role of determining guilt.
Not all human beings are good. Not all human beings are competent in their work. Police are human beings entrusted with extraordinary powers. There must be accountability. TWO aggressive pursuit killings in 30 months among how many in that area in recent history ? TWO! This jury verdict on the merits is a breath of new life.
He was convicted by a jury. And now he received a reasonable sentence. Justice has been done.
A terrible, terrible thing made worse by the fact that it happened twice.
Until we as a country decide to spend the money on our mental health crisis and continue to make it a police issue these outcomes will continue. Either we pay and force people to get help or we don’t. You can’t reason with an mentally or drugged out irrational person, don’t blame the Police they do as they are trained.
In this case a jury decided and I side with how the system works. I’m sure it’ll be back in court on appeal.
Completely agree with your re: how we address mental health and how we seem committed to handing these situations off to police to handle – with guns. People here who are or were police seem to think there’s only one way to handle incidents like the ones seen in Danville and that the officer/deputy was justified in opening fire. While it is true I have never been in that particular situation I have seen it handled differently and with a non lethal end by other police agencies. It begs the question: does the likelihood of an officer using lethal force depend on their training and their department? Because this happened not long after Danville and seemed a more reasonable approach than shooting a man in the face or emptying a pistol into him through a windscreen: https://news24-680.com/2021/04/25/martinez-police-contain-man-wielding-machetes-on-marina-vista-avenue-sunday/
@B Gordon- both of the shootings this particular Deputy was involved in were fluid which makes it almost impossible to have them handled differently. One was a pursuit with constant movement. Whose to say the individual was going to continue slowly driving or floor it? It’s a split second decision the Deputy made.
The other was a contact that ended within a very short time frame with an irrational disturbed individual advancing on the lone officer with a knife. Had it been me with an advancing aggressive guy with a knife while making threats within feet of me I would have reacted the same.
I think your wrong in stating current and former officers/deputies all think there’s only one way to handle these situations. As a former LE officer I don’t think that at all and nobody I’ve talk to about these incidents or others like them feel that way.If you have time on your side and man power you have many more options. Years and years ago patrol units in a lot of cities/counties contained two officers but the public doesn’t want to fund that and I’d even argue having an additional unit always avail. to respond for calls involving obvious mental health issues loaded with less lethal weapons would help. Again though it needs to be funded. Unfortunately these days officers often arrive and are forced due to circumstances to make contact solo.
In both of these incidents had an innocent citizen been hurt or killed before police arrived we all know who’d be blamed. Not our local, state or Fed. government officials or the public that isn’t demanding funding to make change, it would still be the fault of the police.
@ Ripley, well put and realistically stated!
Of Deputy Hall’s actions during the second event, all I can say is, I would have done the same exact thing given the video I have seen. 108RS