The family pursues fontana police in a deadly shooting of an unarmed man

He was at dinner time at the Fontana family home when one of Jaime Valdez’s relatives called 911 to ask for help.

“I have a parent who is not supposed to be here,” said the nameless appellant to the distributor, according to a registration published by the authorities. “It is one of my cousins ​​that takes place, he takes drugs and threatens to kill us.”

The police arrived that evening on November 11, 2023 and found Valdez, 33, unarmed and lying in the alley of the residence, where his mother lived.

Exactly what happened then is in dispute – but Valdez found himself dead after being killed at the back of the head by a police officer from Fontana.

While the authorities said that Valdez had tried to seize the officer’s weapon and Taser, his family alleges that the police unnecessarily degenerated the confrontation, then misled them about the murder.

“(One) officer mainly shot an unarmed person at the back of the head, then lied to the family on this subject for a year or more,” said Bradley, your lawyer, a Valdez family. “It’s quite obvious.”

Valdez’s mother Isabel, and her two daughters are now pursuing the Fontana police service before the Federal Court, alleging excessive force.

“I want justice for my son,” said Isabel Valdez in Spanish between sobs. “The officer who took his life (should pay) like any other criminal would pay. Just because he is a police officer, he should not avoid prison.”

She claims that the police prevented her from leaving her house after the shooting, preventing her from seeing her son’s body. The family alleys that the police said they would take Valdez to the hospital – but the autopsy report indicates that he died a few seconds after being shot. Valdez’s family only learned of his death the next morning, said their trial.

The Fontana police service refused to comment, quoting the current investigation.

In a position on social networks more than eight months after the shooting, the department said that the officer who had shot the fatal shot, Alex Ynez, had been “violently attacked” and argued that he and other officers who responded to the scene had done nothing wrong.

Yanez could be heard before the shooting, shouting in Valdez to “let go of my weapon”, according to the investigation files of the Ministry of Justice of California. The ministry, which launched an investigation two days after the shooting, refused to comment because the probe is underway.

Yanez told investigators that DNA tests would corroborate its assertion that Valdez had “obtained care” his weapon after having disobeyed the controls and embarking on a fight.

But the results of the DNA of Yanez’s weapon have returned not conclusive, according to the files of the Office of Medico-Legal Services, and the Valdez family maintains that the published version of the video of the camera carried on the body of the confrontation published by the authorities leaves several unanswered questions.

Valdez’s family described it as a music lover and a fan dedicated to Los Angeles and Dallas Cowboys dodgers. He had fought against methamphetamine and heroin dependence, said his family in the trial, who argues that when the police found him lying in the aisle that evening, he could not “follow the commandments due to his modified state of drugs and mental health problems”.

Jamie Valdez’s family, from left to right: their sisters Rita Brandon and Angie Franco; one of his two daughters; His mother, Isabel Valdez; her other daughter; And her girlfriend, Yessenia Torres.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The video of the body card edited Watch YANNE, which was hired by the Fontana Police Service in 2019, approaching Valdez, calling on several occasions and receiving no response.

Finally, Valdez becomes alert enough to tell the officer that he wants to “return inside”.

The officer replies: “You are not supposed to be here. But what’s going on with you, guy?”

They go back and forth for a few moments before Valdez tells Yanez to “knock on the door, my brother”.

“You are going to be handcuffed (explanive) if you continue to talk to me like that,” replied Yanez, his censored words in the police released by the police.

Photos of Jaime Valdez in the home of a parent in Pico Rivera on February 7, 2025. Valdez’s family filed a complaint against the Fontana police service during his death.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A few seconds later, YANEZ orders Valdez to keep his hands out of his pockets, then tells him to “put your hands behind your back, guy”.

The video is then interrupted by a message on the screen of the Fontana Police Service: “The officer tries to handle the suspect and he resists.”

When the clip resumes, Valdez is still on the ground and can be heard in Yanez to “relax” while the officer tries to put him handcuffed.

The video does not provide a good view of Valdez at this stage, but we can hear say: “I don’t do anything to you, my brother.” The sounds of a fight and a dog barking are audible before Valdez said: “You hurt me.”

Yanez then shouts several times “put your hands behind your back”, before using your taser.

“Put your hands behind your back,” shouts Yanez twice more while Valdez is crying in agony.

The video goes to a police message: “The officer and the suspect are starting to fight against the officer’s handgun and an involved officer occurs.”

Three shots can be heard. “Send a backup,” said Yanez above his radio. “I am injured.”

Valdez family members say the police have made false statements on the shooting and their condition.

“They lied about everything,” said his sister, Rita Brandon, Times. “They came and they told my mother that my brother was fine, that he had been offset and that he was on his way to the hospital, and all the time that he was outside in the dead alley.”

Yessenia Torres is crying by speaking of her late boyfriend, Jaime Valdez, 33, who was shot by a police officer from Fontana in November 2023.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The family’s trial, filed in December before the Federal Court of Los Angeles, requests damages for a list of alleged harms, including the denial of medical care, battery and negligence. The Defense filed a request to suspend the procedure, the next court hearing scheduled for April 24.

Michael Carillo, a lawyer for the Valdez family, said that “what immediately jumped from the video was the immediate climbing of the force that was completely useless and led to the unreasonable use of force.”

Carillo noted that Valdez was not physically imposing – only 5 feet 3 and 130 pounds. “Instead of defusing it, calling for a mental health unit or a supervisor, the officer has intensified and degenerated and finally fired,” said Carillo.

The coroner’s report said that a ball had struck Valdez to the back of his head and that the other two hit his left shoulder.

An additional video of the camera carried on the body examined by the Times represents the emergency staff cutting Valdez’s clothes while he was lying in the aisle and performing thoracic compressions to try to rekindle him before declaring it dead.

Michael Carrillo, a lawyer representing the members of the family of Jaime Valdez in their trial against the Fontana police service, holds a commemorative shirt for the 33 -year -old man who was killed in 2023.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The State Ministry of Justice is still investigating the shooting, as required by the law when a victim of the police shootout is not armed.

Valdez’s teenage girl – whose Times name retains on the family’s request because she is a minor – said that she was sleeping every night with a digital photo frame that makes her complete photos, as well as a precious video of both playing at the age of 4.

The daughter’s biological father left when she was very young, and Valdez – to whom she affectionately refers like Jime – met with her mother at the age of 2. A year later, she started calling her dad.

“I didn’t even know what a father was before Jime arrives. My sister did not come until years later, “she said, referring to Valdez’s biological girl while tears were flowing on her face. “So, it was always the two of us, so that was all I knew. Jime was my father. “