Around dinner at the family home in Fontana, one of Jaime Valdez’s loved ones called 911 to ask for help.
“I have relatives that I am not supposed to be here,” the unknown caller told the dispatcher, according to a recording released by the authorities. “He’s one of my cousins, he’s on drugs and threatens to kill us.”
Police arrived that night on November 11, 2023 and found 33-year-old Valdez lying in the driveway of the residence where his mother lived.
The exact next thing that happened is under the controversy, but Valdez dies after being shot in the back of the head by a police officer in Fontana.
Authorities claim Valdez tried to grab the officer’s gun and Taser, but his family misled them over the murder, claiming that police had escalated the conflict unnecessarily.
“[An] Bradley Yourist, the Valdes family’s lawyer, said:
Isabel Valdes has a photo of her along with her son Jaime Valdes, who was killed by a police officer in Fontana in November 2023.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
Valdez’s mother, Isabel and his two daughters are currently suing Fontana Police Station in federal court, claiming excessive force.
“I want justice for my son,” Isabelle Valdes said in Spanish during his sobs. “The officer who took his life [should pay] Like other criminals pay. Just because he is a police officer, he should not avoid prison. ”
She claims that police stopped leaving her house after the shooting, preventing her from looking at her son’s body. The family alleges that officials said they would take Valdez to the hospital, but the autopsy report says he died within seconds of being shot. According to their lawsuit, Valdez’s family did not know about his death until the next morning.
The Fontana Police Department declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation.
In a social media post more than eight months after the shooting, the department said that Alex Yanez, the officer who fired the deadly shooting, was “hardly assaulted” and that he and other officers who responded to the scene had done nothing wrong.
According to California Department of Justice investigators, Yanez was able to hear before the shooting screaming “Let me go of my gun.” The department, which began the investigation two days after the shooting, declined to comment as the investigation was ongoing.
Yanez told investigators that DNA testing would support his claim that Valdez “gets” his gun after he failed to follow orders and fell into a fight.
However, Yanez’s weapon results have returned decisively, as state Department of Forensic Services Records shows, Valdez’s family has left some questions unanswered versions of the body-worn camera video, edited from the conflict announced by the authorities.
Valdez’s family described him as a music lover and a dedicated Los Angeles Dodgers and Dallas Cowboys fan. He was suffering from addiction to meta and heroin, his family said in the lawsuit. Police claim that when he spotted him lying in the driveway that night, he “didn’t follow the orders because of his change from his drug and mental health issues.”
Jamie Valdes’ family, from left: his sisters Rita Brandon and Angie Franco. One of his two daughters. his mother, Isabelle Valdez. His other daughter. and his girlfriend, Yesenia Torres.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
In the edited bodycam video, he was hired by the Fontana Police Station in 2019, approaching Valdez, repeatedly speaking up and receiving no responses.
Eventually, Valdez begins to pay sufficient attention to tell officers that he “want to go back inside.”
The officer said, “You shouldn’t be here… What’s wrong?
They go back and forth for a while before Valdes says to Yanez, “Knock on the door, crew.”
“You’ll be able to enter [expletive] If you continue to talk to me like that, I’ll put handcuffs,” replies Yanez, his words being censored in a clip released by the police.
A photo of Hairosophila at the home of a relative in Pico Rivera on February 7th, 2025. Valdez’s family filed a lawsuit against the Fontana Police Station over his death.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
Seconds later, Yanez orders Valdez to let his hands go from his pocket and tells him to “place his hands behind his back.”
This video is interrupted by an on-screen message from the Fontana Police Station. “The officer tries to handcuff the suspect and he resists.”
Once the clip resumes, Valdez is still on the ground and can be heard telling Yanez to “cold” as the officers try to handcuff him.
This video doesn’t provide a good view of Valdes at this point, but you can hear him say, “I’ve done nothing to you, I’m a mate.” You can hear the brawl and the sound of a dog’s bark before Valdez says, “You’re hurting me.”
Yanez then repeatedly screams, “Leave your hands behind your back,” before using the taser.
“Place your hands behind your back,” Yanez screams twice more as Valdez cried in agony.
The video is cut off by a message from the police. “Cops and suspects start to struggle with officers’ handguns, and officers involved in the shooting arise.”
Three gunshots can be heard back to back. “Send a backup,” Yanez says on the radio. “I’m hurt.”
Valdez’s family says police have issued false statements about the shooting and his condition.
“They lied about everything,” his sister, Rita Brandon, told The Times. “They came and told my mother my brother was fine, he was shot and he was on his way to the hospital and he was dead in the driveway the whole time.”
Yessenia Torres cry as she talks about her late boyfriend, Jaime Valdez, 33, who was shot and killed by a Fontana police officer in November 2023.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
The family lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court in December seeks damages on a list of suspicious misdeeds, including medical care, battery and refusal to neglect. The defense has filed a motion to continue the lawsuit with the next court hearing set for April 24th.
“For me, what quickly popped up about the video was an immediate escalation of force that was completely unnecessary and led to the irrational use of force.”
Carillo pointed out that Valdez is not physically proud. It’s only 5 feet 3 and 130 pounds. “Instead of calling a mental health unit or supervisor, the officer escalated and escalated and eventually filmed. [him]Carillo said.
The coroner’s report said one bullet hit Valdez behind his head, while the other two hit him on his left shoulder.
Additional body-covered camera video reviewed by The Times depicts an emergency personnel lying in a driveway and cutting off Valdez’s clothing as he lays in a driveway and puts out chest compressions, trying to revive him before declaring him dead.
Michael Carrillo, the lawyer representing Jaimevaldez’s family in a lawsuit against the Fontana Police Station, holds a commemorative shirt for the 33-year-old, 33, who was killed in 2023.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
The state Department of Justice is still investigating the shooting as required by law if police shooting victims are not armed.
Valdez’s teenage daughter – whose name endures the family’s demands because she is a minor – she says she sleeps every night in a digital picture frame that loops through his photos.
The girl’s biological father left when she was very young, and Valdez said she lovingly with Jaim – and gathered with her mother when she was two years old.
“I didn’t even know what Dad was until Jaim came in. My sister didn’t come until years later,” she said. “So, it was all I knew, as it was always us two. Jime was my dad.”
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