CHP agrees to $7 million settlement in Erik Salgado wrongful death lawsuit over 2020 fatal shooting
The California Highway Patrol has agreed to a $7 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit over the 2020 fatal shooting of Erik Salgado in Oakland, according to an announcement Wednesday by family attorney and civil rights lawyer John Burris.
CHP officers shot Salgado at least 18 times on June 6, 2020, as he drove what was reported to be a stolen Dodge sedan in the area of 94th and Cherry Streets in Oakland. His pregnant girlfriend Brieanna Colombo was in the passenger seat and was wounded.
The CHP said Salgado rammed officers' patrol cars in an attempt to flee a traffic stop. Salgado family attorneys maintain no officers were in the path of his vehicle and he did not attempt to use the car to harm anyone. Neither Salgado nor Colombo were armed.
"The officers fired their guns as if Salgado was a shooting gallery target," said Burris in a statement Wednesday. "The officers' conduct was inhumane and a reckless disregard for human life for which they should be criminally prosecuted."
"This settlement will not bring my brother back, and our tax money will continue to be funneled to the same institution that caused us harm," said Salgado's sister Amanda Majail-Blanco in a statement Wednesday. "As a family, we want criminal charges, on all of the officers."
Burris said they plan to submit the case to Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price for prosecution. Salgado's family has previously urged Price to charge the officers with murder.
Price's predecessor, Nancy O'Malley, released a report in March 2022 on the shooting and said she agreed with its conclusion "that the evidence does not support criminal charges" against the officers, who were not using body-worn cameras during the fatal encounter. According to the DA's office, the cameras were not required per CHP policy.
The 34-page report leaves open the possibility for criminal charges to be filed in the future "should more witnesses or evidence come forward."
The CHP officers who opened fire on Salgado and Colombo were identified as Sgt. Richard Henderson and Officers Donald Saputa and Eric Hulbert. Court documents allege Henderson directed both Saputa and Hulbert to shoot at Salgado's vehicle.
According to the Salgado family attorney, Henderson emptied a 30-round clip from an AR-15-style rifle into the vehicle, and carrying a 30-round clip goes against CHP policy. CHP officials did not confirm whether Henderson was carrying a clip that size.
In 2016, Henderson shot and killed another unarmed man fleeing in a truck from a sideshow in the Southern California city of Fullerton and later claimed he shot into the truck to stop it from hitting a fellow officer. The Orange County District Attorney's Office cleared Henderson and another CHP officer in that shooting as well.
"It defies rational belief that the same officer made the same mistake twice, killing two different people because he saw something that didn't happen either time," said Salgado family attorney Ben Nisenbaum in a statement Wednesday.
"The officers' conduct was atrocious, callous, and a wanton, reckless disregard for the lives of Erik, Brianna, and the residential community," said Burris. "The officers knew nothing about Erik or Brianna, didn't know if they stole the car, or even if they knew it was stolen.
