Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón held a press conference yesterday attempting to defend his department’s handling of Justin Flores, who on June 15th shot and killed two El Monte police officers responding to a domestic disturbance call involving Flores and his estranged wife. Flores killed himself after a shootout with other officers who responded to the initial shooting.
Gascón’s sharply criticized policies favoring criminals over victims and immediately placing police under suspicion in all gun-usage incidents have been previously covered here at RedState. In a June 17th press conference, the mother of one of the two slain officers directly blamed Gascon for her son’s death.
Santana’s mother, Olga Garcia, rippedGascón for prioritizing the rights of criminals and fanning a lawless atmosphere that led to her son’s murder.
“He has insane ideas about giving criminals a slap on the hand,” Garcia said. “We need to enforce our laws so more police officers don’t die.”
Gascón gives law breakers “more rights than police officers,” Garcia said.
Adding further fuel to the firestorm is a debate over whether a Gascón-introduced initiative regarding police shootings would require public funds to pay for Flores’ funeral. With all of this as a backdrop, Gascón’s press conference on June 21st was a stage set for disaster. The conference did not disappoint.
After doubling down on his handling of cop-killer Justin Flores’ felon w/ gun case, LA DA @GeorgeGasconHe walks away and disregards his colleague @MattFinnFNCHe asks Gascon if he can say anything to Joseph Santana’s parents, El Monte PD Officer Joseph Santana. Gascon blames him for their death. pic.twitter.com/5l3my2k3rP
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) June 22, 2022
Gascón insisted Flores was a victim of the habit, not a violent criminal, therefore deserving of the far lesser punishment he had received before the shooting.
“He was arrested for possession of drugs and possession of a gun, not the use of a gun,” Gascón said. “Under the circumstances, I believe it was an appropriate outcome.”
Flores, who was on probation for gun charges at the time of shooting, returned to court the next day for a hearing. Court records show that this happened after his probation officer had requested that he come back later in the month.
The plea to the gun charge, a felony, could have sent him back to prison for three years, but he got two years’ probation and 20 days in jail.
Meanwhile, the El Monte city council, all of whom are Democrats, has joined 34 other cities by issuing a “no confidence” vote against Gascón.
“We believe that D.A. Gascón’s policies have now been shown to be detrimental to public safety in El Monte and Los Angeles County, and also detrimental to the goal we share, of rehabilitating people away from criminal activity, as shown by the high failure rate of D.A. Gascón’s policy of not holding people accountable for their criminal acts,” stated a resolution affirming the El Monte City Council’s 5-0 vote Tuesday night.
A recall campaign against Gascón aiming to place its initiative on the November ballot has already gathered sufficient signatures for its purposes. To protect itself against untrue signatures, it is pressing on.
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