San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said Wednesday, April 3, that he does not know yet whether the man who was video recorded repeatedly being kneed in the head by a deputy during an arrest in Hesperia was handcuffed at the time.
The use of force occurred on March 26 after 36-year-old Christian Cardenas Alonso from Adelanto was pulled over for a traffic stop. Alonso was identified as a suspect in an armed robbery, the Sheriff’s Department said in a news release. Alonso refused to leave his car and resisted arrest, the department said. He was struck while face-down on the pavement.
“We are looking at it through a criminal lens and an administrative lens whether that subject had actually been handcuffed,” Dicus said. “We’re putting the public’s video with the body-worn camera videos and we’re going to take a look at those and I can reassure you we will take the correct and appropriate processes, whether it’s submitting something to the (District Attorney’s Office) criminally and doing an administrative investigation.”
If the internal findings determine the deputies were at fault, they could face discipline up to termination, the sheriff said.
Dicus, after briefing reporters Wednesday on the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old mentally ill boy the previous day, addressed several headline-making uses of force by his department.
He noted the videos released last week in the September 2022 fatal shooting of unarmed Fontana kidnap victim Savannah Graziano during a gun battle in Hesperia that also killed her father. The shootings are under investigation by the state Department of Justice.
“I implore the public to let the DOJ do their review and work through the system,” Dicus said.
He was asked what his reaction was when he saw his deputies shoot the 15-year-old as she appeared to be surrendering.
“One of my reactions was seeing the deputy sheriffs that were involved in that case and they realized she was shot and killed, and if you saw their distraught faces, you’d understand why I want to make sure that the legal process of this (investigation) is transmitted to the public as well as the videos and things I’m required to release based on the time frame,” Dicus said.
The Sheriff’s Department is taking the lead in investigating recent shootings by Fontana police officers. The Southern California News Group reported that Fontana has withheld most details, including body-worn camera videos, of those shootings.
“Chief (Dorsey) would be legally errant in releasing information on both the suspect and the officers involved in the shooting,” Dicus said, referencing a case that is in the courts. “I can reassure everyone that there will be transparency.”
