Exclusive: CHP captain accused of insurance fraud authorized Roseville park warrant service that led to fatal shootout, sources say
ROSEVILLE — The California Highway Patrol captain arrested last week on suspicion of workers' compensation fraud was the commander in charge of the fatal April 2023 Mahaney Park shootout in Roseville, three officers who worked under him at the time of the shootout confirmed to CBS Sacramento. We are withholding the names of the three officers because they are not authorized to speak on the record.
That captain was identified as Matthew Stover, a 22-year CHP veteran, who approved the decision to serve the high-risk search warrant to an armed suspect, Eric Abril, at a busy park during spring break, our sources said. That plan resulted in a deadly shootout that injured an officer and killed James MacEgan, who was taken hostage with his wife by the suspect.
On Tuesday, a judge ruled Patty MacEgan can move forward with her wrongful death lawsuit against the California Highway Patrol in the hostage situation that saw her husband killed. The judge's ruling comes after the CHP and Attorney General Rob Bonta's office tried to get the case thrown out.
In short, state law says law enforcement is not liable if someone is injured by a suspect resisting arrest.
However, the CHP wasn't serving an arrest warrant that day and Abril wasn't under arrest. They were serving a search warrant on his car and his house, but they chose to confront him at a busy park instead.
Following the shooting, Stover was removed from his post and subsequently went out on workers comp. He was then arrested last week on suspicion of workers comp insurance fraud and booked into the Sacramento County Jail.
The CHP said they cannot comment due to ongoing litigation.
As CBS13 was first to report and the judge pointed out, we still don't know who fired the shot that killed Mr. MacEgan. So the judge ruled the CHP didn't have immunity because Abril wasn't under arrest and may not have fired the fatal shot.
The CHP made several other immunity rulings which the judge also denied, but they can try again with a summary judgment.
