🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
A former police officer in California was sentenced to six years in state prison on Friday after his felony conviction in connection with the 2018 shooting death of an unarmed man who had been previously hospitalized for mental illness.
Andrew Hall was convicted of assault with a firearm, a violent felony that requires him to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence in prison before becoming eligible for parole, KGO-TV reported.
Hall's multiyear sentence came amid widespread scrutiny on shootings and other deadly or harmful encounters involving cops. One California police department, for example, is facing a lawsuit from a woman who alleged a police dog bit into her scalp during an arrest, Newsweek reported.
In November 2018, Laudemer Arboleda, 33, was fatally shot by Hall after he led police on a slow pursuit in Danville, California. Arboleda's family has said that he was hospitalized earlier that year for mental illness, KNTV reported.
The chase began after someone contacted police to report that Arboleda knocked on their front door. Arboleda pulled over multiple times during the pursuit and then drove away again from police, who at one point during the encounter pulled out their guns but did not open fire, according to KGO.
At the end of the chase, Hall pulled in front of Arboleda, exited his vehicle and then shot him nine times as he tried to pull away. Arboleda's car ended up crashing into another oncoming vehicle, KGO reported.
"The people of Contra Costa County put their trust in Mr. Hall to protect them, and he violated that trust," Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Terri Mockler was quoted by KPIX-TV.
Hall's lawyers have argued that the shooting was in self-defense, alleging that Arboleda was trying to run him over with his car. His six-year sentence includes three years for the charge of assault with a firearm and another three for inflicting great bodily harm, according to KGO.
Years passed after the deadly shooting before Hall faced charges. The Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office investigated the incident but cleared the former officer of wrongdoing, KGO reported. It wasn't until Hall fatally shot another man, 32-year-old Tyrell Wilson, that charges were filed for Arboleda's death.
Arboleda's mother, Jeannie Atienza, said that the sentencing brings the family some closure.
"Although we will never be able to see our Laudemer again, we are grateful for some accountability to be served for Officer Hall. Our family has been through hell and it still hurts us till this day that it took three years to bring charges against him, that they tried to cover up what happened, and that the Danville Police let Officer Hall take another life of a mentally ill man, Tyrell Wilson," KGO quoted her as saying.
Newsweek has reached out to Hall's attorney for comment but did not hear back by publication time.
Update 3/4/22, 4:30 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information and background.
About the writer
Zoe Strozewski is a Newsweek reporter based in New Jersey. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and global politics. Zoe ... Read more