Danville Deputy Charged With 2 Felonies In 2018 Fatal Shooting

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA — Andrew Hall, a Contra Costa County sheriff's deputy who was assigned to the Danville Police Department, was charged with two felonies in the fatal 2018 shooting of Laudemer Arboleda.

District Attorney Diana Becton announced Wednesday that Hall faces charges of voluntary manslaughter and assault with a semi-automatic weapon. The DA's office believed Hall shot Arboleda nine times "without lawful excuse or justification," she said.

A warrant was signed for Hall's arrest, and his bail was set at $220,000. Jail records indicated he had not been booked as of 3 p.m. He will be arraigned before a judge, but no date has been set.

The charges included enhancements for Hall's use of his gun, a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol, the DA's office said. Enhancements can be tacked onto charges to enhance a punishment.

Hall faces up to 42 years in state prison if convicted, Becton said.

Danville contracts with the Contra Costa sheriff's office to provide policing services in the town. The sheriff's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Hall's attorney, Harry Stern, said in a statement that attorneys would "vigorously defend Deputy Hall and also fight to ensure his constitutional right to due process in this environment."

Stern said he believed that the DA's office initially determined the shooting was justified because Hall was acting in self-defense from a lethal threat.

Asked about Stern's statement, DA's office spokesperson Scott Alonso told Patch that Becton had not previously made any decision in this case.

Stern questioned the timing of the announcement and said it seemed "overtly political." Stern declined to answer questions about his statement.

This is the first time in recent history that the DA's office filed charges against a law enforcement officer for his actions in a shooting, Becton said.

The news came one day after a jury found former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murder and other charges in the death of George Floyd.

Arboleda was driving in a slow-speed pursuit at the time of his death. After Hall shot him, Arboleda continued into an intersection, crashed into another car and was found unresponsive with his foot on the gas pedal, officials said.

Becton acknowledged that law enforcement officers have difficult jobs, face incredibly challenging circumstances and work hard to protect the public every day. But the Arboleda shooting underscored the need for continued de-escalation training in law enforcement and improved response to people struggling with mental illness, she added.

Hall's actions that day endangered the lives of his fellow officers and nearby members of the public, she said. Becton was confident that prosecutors can make the case to 12 jurors that Hall should be convicted.

Hall was placed on paid leave last month after he fatally shot Tyrell Wilson, 32, in Danville. That shooting remains under investigation and is the subject of a civil rights lawsuit. Hours after the DA's office announced its Wednesday afternoon news conference, the sheriff's office released body camera footage of the Wilson shooting.

Hall appears to be white. Arboleda was Filipino, and Wilson was Black.

Read more: Sheriff's Office Releases Video Of Fatal Danville Police Shooting

Arboleda, a 33-year-old Newark man, was killed Nov. 3, 2018, at the close of a slow-speed pursuit through Danville. An internal investigation by the sheriff's office found Hall did not violate any policies.

The Arboleda shooting was the subject of a San Francisco Chronicle investigation published in February.

On the day Arboleda was killed, Danville police responded to a report of a suspicious person — Arboleda — near Cottage Lane and Laurel Drive next to Interstate Highway 680 near downtown. Arboleda drove off and reportedly ignored an officer's commands to stop, and a slow-speed, seven-minute pursuit ensued through the city, according to police and the Chronicle.

Two police cars tried to block Arboleda at the intersection of Front Street and Diablo Road, according to police and dashcam footage obtained by the Chronicle. Arboleda began to drive toward a gap between the two cars when Hall stepped out of his car and into Arboleda's path, drew his gun and fired at Arboleda, the paper reported. Hall said he fired because he feared for his life.

Hall was cleared of wrongdoing, but four of six police use-of-force experts interviewed by the Chronicle felt Hall was not justified in firing his weapon.

Experts were also alarmed to find that the sheriff's office determined that Hall did not violate policy, the Chronicle reported. The Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office bars shooting at or from a moving car unless it's to defend someone's life, the newspaper reported.

Hall has been with the sheriff's office for nearly eight years. In that time, he's been the subject of three investigations for serious use of force.

When Hall was assigned to the Martinez Detention Facility, an inmate accused him in 2014 of ramming him face-first into a door while handcuffed and punching him several times in the face and side, causing the inmate to have his lip reattached. The incident was investigated and Hall was cleared of wrongdoing.

Contra Costa Sheriff David Livingston told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday that Hall would be returned to non-patrol duty at Hall's request, Bay Area News Group reported.

Hall was charged two and a half years after Arboleda's death and a month after his second fatal shooting.

John Burris, a civil rights attorney who represented Arboleda's family in a lawsuit against Hall, said in a statement that the delay in prosecution "is particularly hurtful because Hall recently shot and killed a homeless man, Tyrell Wilson, under very questionable circumstances."

"Wilson could be alive if Hall had been prosecuted earlier," wrote Burris, who is also representing Wilson's family in a lawsuit.

Becton, who was appointed to her position in September 2017 and elected to a full term in June 2018, said the DA's investigation took a while because the office was transitioning from a system in which one officer investigated shootings to its current model, where a 10-person team of attorneys evaluated shootings. Preparation for that model began in 2019 and teams were fully in place by the end of 2020, she said.

The old system was not, in Becton's view, best practice. She said she hoped the new arrangement will allow the DA's office to more expeditiously review cases going forward.

The DA's office must still investigate one police-involved shooting from 2018, three from 2019, three from 2020 and one from 2021.

The Danville Town Council said in a statement that it respected Becton's decision to file charges and regretted "the two tragic incidents that resulted in the losses of both Laudemer Arboledo and Tyrell Wilson."

Councilmembers will seek to improve emergency responses for people experiencing mental health crises in Danville.

"We continue to support full transparency in all matters related to both incidents," the council said. "We understand the importance of trust in the relationship between our community and the police personnel who are here to serve them, and we are committed to creating a safe, equitable and inclusive community for all members of our community."