Salinas Police Chief Claims All Officers Will be Cleared of Wrongdoing

Salinas Police Chief Kelly McMillin believes all of his officers who were involved in four fatal police shootings in 2014 will be cleared of wrongdoing.

“I’m confident that the District Attorney is going to find that the shootings were lawful and justifiable. And I’m confident that the (Department of Justice) civil rights division will not find any civil rights violations,” McMillin said.

The chief made that comment Monday while giving KSBW an update on where the investigations stand.

The first three shootings were investigated by the Salinas Police Department and forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review.

Two of those cases were also forwarded to the Department of Justice’s civil rights division: The deaths of Osman Hernandez and Carlos Mejia.

Osman Hernandez was erratically dancing around with a knife before police shot him at Mi Pueblo Food Center, and Carlos Mejia was waiving large gardening shears in the air on North Sanborn Road when police killed him.

Mejia’s death was recorded on cellphone video by witnesses who were screaming at police, as well as by a business’ surveillance camera.

“There were a lot of questions in the community, about those two shootings in particular. Some of the concerns were around civil rights violations on the part of police officers. I want to make sure that those community concerns are answered,” McMillin said.

PHOTOS: 4 officer-involved shootings in Salinas

Frank Alvarado, 39, of Salinas, was holding a cellphone when he was killed during the fourth shooting. Alvarado’s case is still under investigation by the Monterey County District Attorney.

Investigators said Alvarado rushed at officers with his hands together, clutching a cellphone, and may have committed suicide by cop. Alvarado’s son said his father respected police and did not want to die.

McMillin said he expects waiting several months before any preliminary findings are released.

Community activist David Serena said there should be more policing of the police, and believes no charges will be handed down against the officers.

“I would hope that this report would lead to them changing their approach in terms of how they stop and search and do all those kinds of things and not be too quick to respond with deadly force,” said Serena, who has been pushing for police review boards.

All of the men shot and killed in the officer-involved shootings were Latino. Salinas’ population is mostly Hispanic.

Serena said he hopes independent reviews by the Department of Justice would lead to more cultural awareness within the police department.

“They become more aware of the Chicano community. If I were to go and ask any of those officers what kind of training do they have in terms of culture, in terms of understanding, I think they have very little,” Serena said.