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The 150-or-so of us neighbors who showed up Monday night at East Anaheim’s Church of the Nazarene to hear the Anaheim Police’s presentation on their fatal shooting of 29-year old Adalid “El Gordito” Flores already knew a few things about the case, from the Register and Weekly. We knew, for example, that Adalid had allegedly purposely “rammed” two cars on the 91 (characterized as “assault with a deadly weapon”), disabling his own car, fled down East Street, and was later shot fatally by Anaheim Police in the front yard of 1322 North East Street.
But an hour later, as we left the event, we didn’t know any more than we knew walking in. Well, maybe a couple of little things, but not what most of us wanted to know. Like,
- Was Adalid armed? The police wouldn’t tell us. That of course means he was NOT armed. And:
- Why was it necessary then to kill this father of four if he was no longer a threat?
- How many bullets were fired into Adalid, by how many police?
- Who was/were the shooter(s)?
- Was there a second suspect, as the Register suggested? If so, can we even be sure it was Adalid who did the “ramming?”
Nothing. And yes, the killing was caught on body cameras, and no, the public will never see the footage (if the APD and DA have their way.)
I can think of one thing we learned – it was the CHP who called the APD to nab the suspect while they took care of the desmadre on the highway. Shame there was not a less lethal group that they could have called on, rather than the 9th-deadliest police force in the US (per thousand of city residents.) Remember, this is the fourth APD killing this year. Three of those victims were unarmed – all but February’s Danny Rendon, and HE had dropped his gun and raised his hands before being shot. Two of them – February’s Gustavo Najera and July’s Vincent Valenzuela – were not even doing anything wrong when they met their fates at the hands of the APD. (When called on this, the spokesman boasted that the APD makes “hundreds, maybe thousands of arrests each year,” and HARDLY ANY of them get killed.)
Do we still need plenty of oversight, accountability, policy reforms, or what?
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One other little twist – we’d been led to expect this “community meeting” to be led by Chief Raul Quezada, whom we hadn’t seen since early October, when he and Deputy Chief Dan Cahill had been accused of falsifying time cards. But instead the meeting was led by Cahill (right), who introduced himself as “Acting Chief” and said Raul was out of town and couldn’t make it. Cynics among us guffawed, assuming Raul is still on leave while being investigated.
But also, how is Cahill Acting Chief, when for one thing he stands accused of the same misdeeds as Quezada, and for another thing he’s only been around a year and a half while the other, and equal, Deputy Chief Julian Harvey has been with the APD since 1992 – 24 years. Doesn’t Julian feel dissed, passed over? Actually he was there, and really seemed perfectly happy to not have to be up at the podium shoveling bullshit.
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Little Adalids, as featured on his Facebook page.
At one point, a young couple near the back of the church stormed out in disgust after not getting any satisfactory answers. I followed them out to see who they were – the young man was Adalid’s brother “Junior.” Then I took the opportunity to introduce myself to another man who had spoken up – the elderly, non-English-speaking owner of the home on East Street, in whose front yard Adalid had been killed, and who demanded to know “Why the police knocked down his doors” after the shooting. He gave me his name and said I could come by any time.
So a few days later I brought along a Spanish-speaking friend (who happened to have grown up with Adalid) and walked over to East Street to ask this gentleman a few questions. What did he see and hear? How many shots were fired? How many police were there, and does he remember their names, and did they really “knock down his doors,” or just “knock on the door” as Cahill claimed?
First, he pointed out the traditional shrine, set up on the driveway where Adalid was shot.
The homeowner heard three shots; he believes two bullets hit Adalid, and one went into the house. There were more police than he could count, he gestured up and down the street, from the Eli Home to the freeway. Monday’s translator was correct – the police kicked down half his doors, not “knocked on the doors” as Cahill put it, to look for a second suspect. He was told he can go to the city and bill them for fixing the doors.
Donna and I know all these houses, we walked that District 5 precinct twice during her recent Council run. The first house you get to if you were walking or running south on the east side of East Street from the 91 is deserted; why didn’t he run to that house and hide?
Because, duh. He wanted to run to somewhere – the second house – where he knew there would be WITNESSES. He thought the presence of witnesses would stop the police from shooting him to death. Manuel Diaz thought the same thing on July 21, 2012 as he ran to where he knew there would be witnesses on Anna Drive. It didn’t save either of the unarmed young men from being slaughtered.
1322. He jumped this gate which was closed. That’s the last thing he did. My friend says he was one of the funniest guys she knew. He and his four kids and their mother had recently moved to Moreno Valley, but he came to visit his mother in Anaheim a lot. She can’t imagine why he or his friend might have been “ramming cars,” and finds it hard to believe. He was never a gang member. That’s all I got so far.
UPDATE
Anaheim’s next (and possibly final) “Public Safety Board” meeting will be Thursday Dec. 15 at 6pm, at the Anaheim Gordon Hoyt Conference Center, 2nd floor, 201 S. Anaheim Blvd, 2nd floor (across from City Hall.) We’ll be there with a lot of questions, will you?!
One of the worst things that I heard Cahill say at the presentation was when one of the family members said how hard it is on her children and Cahill said “It’s hard on the police officers too.” I just thought that was such an awful thing to say. After the meeting I mentioned to him that he might like to be a little more sensitive in these situations since they have become so commonplace and he said he realized that as soon as he spoke.
Thank you that broke my heart i was that woman and my daughter was next to me ❤️
Them anaheim cops are all corrupt im waiting to tht day comes and it happens to them .
Its always a shame when someone unnecessary dies in the hands of someone else. But people lets get facts straight here. Our copa are humans too, they are someone son, brother and father too. And lets get things clear i grew up in Anaheim, along with Diaz and Flores. They were both gang affiliated and well known drug dealers. The community knew that and APD knew that too with their many encounters. Not only that but Flores, was well known bully. Yes, he loved his children, provided for them, and cared for his long time high school sweet heart, who he had recently had separated from. Im tired of our hard working police officers getting a bad rep because of punks like these. Who terrorize our streets and feed drugs to our youth. These cops have alot to deal with, they deal with criminals, the mentally unstable, heart breaking situations, they deal with things us citizens wont dare to deal with. Otherwise everyone would become a cop. Next time someone decides to commit a crime keep in mind the results wont be great if you run, i wish they were man enough to stand next to their doings as they are man enough to commit them, instead of running. Cops have families too, they are providers too, and they also need the support from the community.
Even if everything you say is true, I don’t understand this exaggerated concern over the police. Nobody is killing them or beating them up or throwing them in jail, just questioning and criticizing them. At the very least, someone who kills someone unnecessarily shouldn’t be a cop or have a gun.
Even IF everything you and the cops say about Adalid is true, he should be alive in jail where his kids can visit him, and he could maybe reform, get out some day, and be a productive citizen and father.
You dont think those cops pay a price? They have to live with themselves. The fact that they took a life. Doubting themselves, they are mentally broken by citizens who dont understand their careers. My “exaggerated concern” is because im tired of people shaming OUR police officers.
Lets put it this way, picture yourself, better yet your love one being rammed by Honda pilot, ON the freeway!!! This guy tried to hurt someone. Then you tried to get away!! He tried to kill someone. His intentions were there. Our officers are trained to protect and to serve, that goes for their lives too.
And please dont be blind, our officers get ready everyday to go do a dirty job. They too lose their lives by drug addicts, irresponsable gun owners, thugs, and even mentally unstable people. Do you think they wake up and tell them selves, i hope to kill someone today. Every profession has their bad apples just as our streets do to.
Why would you feel the need to publish those widespread, common, and safe (given that you’re PRO-POLICE) opinions anonymously?
Vern and other police critics are quite seriously risking their safety and freedom by promoting their opinions. What do you imagine that YOU are risking by expressing yours?
This is part of why I wonder whether some of these writing campaigns are ginned up rather than actually coming from the grass roots.
The writer previously known as “kenlaysnotdead” and “nameless” wants you to know this, written under a new pen-name-du-jour of “A. Morales”:
And this, folks, is why you can’t believe everything you read. Yes, we can verify this. Some people just have an obsessive desire to lie to the public. It’s probably a substitute for a happy love life.
There is always another side of the story that’s never told because
They don’t want their loved ones to be remembered as a bad human. So instead they act and pretend they were a victim. So what would’ve happened if he killed an innocent family from those Two cars he hit? I think if we all do bad then we will get bad consequences. As a father of 4 kids he shoulve made better decisions. Selling drugs and drinking every weekend exposing his personal life in Facebook like he was so proud of that life style he lived. Those kids didn’t choose to have that life style. Pointing fingers at the cops is only making this life worse. How about we do better in life and teach our kids to live in discipline because that’s what cops and the law is for. You want to live a THUG life? Then face the Consequences you’ll be treated like the thugs do. End in jail with a life sentence for killing someone innocent or with someone ending yours. It could’ve been someone else. Unfortunately it had to be a cop doing their Job. It’s just the uniform that people Hate because they fear to get caught on their actions. Love guilt and fear free.
Same question goes for you. Why the need to express this sentiment anonymously?
But I’ll add, indelicately: if he’s so bad, what would be wrong with the cops coming into his house, dragging him into a car, and killing him? If he wasn’t armed and wasn’t dangerous, how is the manner of his death here different — because he committed the “crime” of not staying confined to his home, where an additional Constitutional Amendment would protect him? (To some extent….)
For what purpose? So others can look for my fb and shame me for fending our armed officers, and then having more unreasonable, angry and his gang members friends harrass me? What difference does it make? Besides me being harrassed by his loved ones who are blinded by their pain. Im not here offend anymore nor call them stupid. I came to an open forum to state my opinion. He ran, he was not in his home, he traspassed someone elses home. Hes family infact lives a mile away, in Balsam St. He was no where near there.
Why? To establish your credibility. But no need to bother.
Ladies and gentlemen, I assure by the nature of the comments stated by Anonymous and others that do not publish their names that these people are not members of the general public. I believe they are members of police departments that invade these comment sections to bring down the sentiments and anger from the community.
The bottom line here is that it appears Adalid Flores was not armed when he was shot and killed. The interesting point here is that the video cam of the officer will not be produced. As a lawyer that has represented many families involved in similar scenarios I eventually obtain the police videos but not before I have to sign a protective order. Yes, and an order that prevents me or any other lawyers or investigators working on the case from being able to show the video. We can’t even tell the public what the video shows.
The police and the OCDA’s office are scared that if the public were to know how bad some of these shooting are that there would be civil unrest. Because they know the video will not be shown, they usually lie about the shooting and make the person that was killed out to be a real bad human being.
The OCDA’s office is involved in these cover-ups. For example, instead of securing forensic evidence such as trajectory, etc., the investigators from the OCDA dirty up the person killed and his family. They use most of their resources scouring and investigating the family looking for evidence of gang activity, past criminal activity, etc.
This is why I believe Anonymous is a member of law enforcement. He/she has described personal background info of Mr. Flores that most people can not find. How is it that he knows so much about Flores’ life? Because he is a cop or works with them. The OCDA is a sham and needs to be reformed. I intend to get involved in demanding reform. How can we ever have peace if there is no justice?
Thank you Mr. Guizar, I was thinking the same thing.
Ummm, did u not read my comment? Jesus Christ, so your telling me these guys didnt grow up in communities along with other children? I grew up in Anaheim. Went to the same elementary. Same junior high. Same high school, saw how he would bully my bother. Pick on others, and sold along with my cousin. But nope. I must be a cop.
I dont like the fact the Apd wont turn in their cameras to the public. I honestly believe that should be considered public property.
Guess what? Dont you think that i might be person that has been affected by these guys? That i along with others know them becus we walked the same way home? Becuase i witness how distructive they got?
Im not saying they were high class killers but we shouldnt shame our officers over punks.
How dare you say anything about what had happened… Who he was…what he did to survive… You obviously are a fucking pussy ass bitch who can’t even leave your name so we know who you are. But i suggest that you keep your god damn comments to yourself or if you have something to say come on over and talk to is face to face.
I have to point out that we have no information, either way, as to whether this is actually the victim’s sister-in-law. (She can contact Vern with her contact info, so that he can verify her identity, if she wants to get actual credit as the author here.)
Here with the Bucket O’ Cold Water Brigade….
Junior’s sister? She was there Monday night, very outspoken. I can check.
Oh and I did hear back from Humberto, and sent him the link to that case.
I hope we see EVERYONE at Dec 15’s “Public Safety Board” meeting. Let’s make it one they don’t forget! (See my update at the end of the story)
The solution . . . Don’t sign the damn order and don’t confidential settlements.
… at the cost of not being given access to the video in the first place, Ryan.
“The interesting point here is that the video cam of the officer will not be produced. As a lawyer that has represented many families involved in similar scenarios I eventually obtain the police videos”
Are you familiar with the recent State Supreme Court decision that requires release of videos even though there may be “personnel” matters arising subsequent to the creation of the video?
That’s right, Humberto. If you really want reform, you should be able to use this and take it as far as you can:
http://norcalrecord.com/stories/511043601-supreme-court-rules-eureka-police-arrest-video-should-be-available-to-public?t=KKGPg8ddWSliu1MI_LNa
It will be interesting to watch the cops and DAs try to hide this stuff because of some sort of “pending criminal investigations” or other. That’s what they’re doing in Fullerton, apparently, although nobody can seem to figure out what sort of crime could be prosecuted.
Mr. Guizar:
Thank you for you comment. I’m an attorney who helps to run this site. As that instills in me a certain skepticism, even when there is no apparent call for it, I’ll be giving your office a call to verify your identity — just to ensure that no one had snatched it for the purpose of making a comment that tells people what they may want to hear. If that checks out — and you’ll have information that will identify my identity as well — then I may want to introduce you around a bit.
Sounds like Humberto to me.
Oh, you’re familiar with him? That will save me a phone call.
Yeah he takes a lot of these sorts of cases. I just e-mailed him to make double sure it was him.
Seems wise. Some people prank us by telling us scurrilous lies anonymously, and at least one of those same people lies to us by telling us what they think we want to hear. (I generally put both into the trash.)
(If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, call me.)
Cahill was “acting chief” because Quezada was out of town. That’s how things work. When the head honcho is out of town, the second in command assumes “acting” responsibilities/authorities until his return. #demystified
Way to address the most important points!
The “mystification,” Gabriel, is that at least some of us have been under the impression that Julian Harvey – who is not one of those standing accused of impropriety with timesheets – has been the APD “second-in-command.” That may well be incorrect — although it raises the interesting question of when and why that change happened – but a close reading should make clear that that is what prompted Vern’s comment.
It’s Cahill.
Thanks for letting us know. Presuming that we can agree that (at some point not so long ago) it was Harvey, do you know when (and even perhaps why) that changed?
Hello friends:
I just read the posts above. with regard to the the Eureka case, in that particular case disclosure was ordered. However, in many cases the videos and other evidence is not disclosed under the pretext that the matter remains under investigation, and other gibberish that relates to public safety, blah, blah, blah…
When I am involved as a lawyer on a case I have to do what is in the best interest of the clients. Often I can not obtain crucial evidence unless I sign a protective order. As such, I can not go public with the info unless the case goes to trial. If the case settles, which they often do then the info never comes out. So the question for the client is do we try to settle the case or do we go to trial to show what happened. Generally, the clients will settle as they don’t want to take the risk of losing, which can happen even in good cases.
I did obtain a video of a shooting case and I went public with it before the cops and their lawyers could get a protective order. That was the case of Centeno v City of Fresno, which I am currently litigating. It is on U-tube – check it out:
As for the dude that claims he grew with up Adalid, I don’t buy it. I think he is with law enforcement.
Well, more than four years have gone by, and Gabriel San Roman has done some great investigative work on this case. Here is his latest:
https://www.gabrielsanroman.com/post/slingshot-anaheim-police-shooting-eluded-transparency-until-now
We should link to Slingshot on our blogroll rather than to his dead site.