Cop says he shot cyclist as he mourned colleague's murder by serial killer

Brett Kelman | The (Palm Springs) Desert Sun

A veteran California police officer who fatally shot a fleeing cyclist two years ago told investigators he was reeling from the murder of a fellow policeman, which made him more likely to use deadly force when he felt threatened, newly released law enforcement documents show.

Officer Alex Franco shot Alejandro Rendon, 23, twice — including at least once from behind — as the Indio, Calif. man fled from a routine traffic stop on Valentine's Day 2013. Rendon never brandished a weapon, but police found a blue-handled kitchen knife on his body after he was shot.

One day prior, Franco had attended the funeral of Riverside Police Officer Michael Crain, a victim of serial killer Chris Dorner, an ex-LAPD officer who targeted cops. When Franco returned to patrol the next day, he had what investigators called a heightened sense of "officer safety."

"I know people die," Franco told investigators, describing his mindset in the moment that he shot Rendon. "We're all cops, and we're all the same, but I knew (Crain). I knew how he worked, and it made it a little bit more tangible. I've worked where people on my shift do not come back the next day. ... That's part of the job. That just goes with the job. But this was fresh. This was, you know, 24 hours ago where I watched him get, you know, eulogized and buried."

Although Rendon was killed more than two years ago, the fact that Franco was mourning Crain at the time of the shooting has never been made public until now. This detail comes from a Desert Sun analysis of more than 500 pages of law enforcement documents, obtained exclusively by the newspaper through the cooperation of the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. The documents were released this month.

The Desert Sun's analysis also includes hundreds of pages of documents from a lawsuit filed by the Rendon family, who successfully sued the city of Indio for $1.9 million in 2014. Lawsuit documents reveal that Franco was caught lying on a polygraph test while interviewing for a job with the Indio Police Department in 2007, and that he was previously denied employment by numerous other California police agencies. Attorneys used this information to argue that Franco is untrustworthy.

The DA's office cleared Franco in the Rendon shooting.

The revelation that Franco was mourning a murdered officer comes at a time when countless other police officers are facing a similar loss. After Dorner's shooting spree in 2013, the number of killings rose dramatically in 2014, nearly doubling to 51. This year, assassination plots in New York and Dallas have left many officers feeling more besieged than ever before, a national policing expert said. On street corners across America, growing officer fear could lead to deadly consequences, not unlike the shooting in Indio two years ago.

"When officers are targeted in very high-profile cases – from the Dorner case to the New York case where officers were ambushed and executed in their car — it leads police all across the country to be more concerned for their own personal safety," said Jim Bueermann, president of the Police Foundation, a law enforcement think tank. "I think it's incumbent on individual departments to stress that officers still have to do the job in a rational and thoughtful manner. The overwhelming majority of people they have contact with do not intend to do them harm."

Bueermann is a former Redlands, Calif. police chief, who led the department from 1998 to 2011. During an interview with The Desert Sun, Bueermann said the Indio shooting is also indicative of a nationwide need for increased focus on police officers' psychological health.

He said police departments must foster a culture where officers are unafraid to admit they are emotionally compromised. No one blinks if a doctor or an airline pilot says they are too distraught to work, Bueermann said, but police — who face devastating sights and dangerous confrontations on a regular basis — still operate in a "macho" world, where psychological trauma is rarely discussed, and time off is often frowned upon.

Bueermann said he doesn't know any police department with a policy of debriefing officers after officer funerals, but "good sergeants" keep an eye on their mourning officers anyway.

"If you have never been to a police funeral, they are very symbolic, and very emotional, like a military funeral in many ways," Bueermann said. "It reminds you of how dangerous the job can be, and that's probably the most important time for sergeants to look at their people in briefing and talk to them.

"Wouldn't we rather an airline pilot say to his boss 'I don't think I should be flying today?'" Bueermann said. "As a passenger, I would much rather that pilot stay home and put someone else in his seat. Because the consequences can be phenomenal. "

If there was ever an event that rattled police, it was Dorner's killing spree.

Dorner, 33, a fired LAPD officer who swore revenge against all police, targeted officers and their loved ones, killing four people in nine days in early February 2013. Police responded with a statewide manhunt, and emotions were so tense that officers in Los Angeles and Torrance mistakenly fired at innocent bystanders who were briefly mistaken for Dorner.

Dorner's spree ended on Feb. 12, when he committed suicide during a standoff with an army of police in Big Bear, Calif. One day later, about 8,000 mourners gathered in Riverside to say goodbye to Crain, 34, a SWAT member and father of two young children.

Franco, who had worked alongside Crain years before, was among the crowd.

When questioned for this story, the Indio Police Department would not say if it was a mistake to allow Franco to return to patrol one day after Crain's funeral. The department issued a written statement that said it partners with an outside company — The Counseling Team International — to offer help to officers who are struggling with depression, stress or trauma.

Police Chief Richard Twiss was unavailable to be interviewed for this story, an Indio Police Department spokesman said.

Officer Franco did not respond to interview requests.

Franco has used deadly force once before, when he opened fire on an armed teenage suspect in 2010. The suspect, who had a .22-caliber rifle and was riding in a stolen vehicle, was captured but unhurt.

Franco recently made headlines for positive reasons. Earlier this month, Franco was given a "California Hero Award" by Mothers Against Drunk Driving for his staunch DUI enforcement. This was the second year in a row Franco had won the award.

'HE'S GOING TO ATTACK ME'

Franco has previously declined to discuss Rendon's death, but statements he made to investigators in the wake of the shooting are now public.

The documents released by the D.A.'s office include a transcript of an interview with Franco conducted by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department about six hours after Rendon was shot. The transcript offers the first-ever glimpse into what Franco was thinking when he pulled the trigger.

In the interview, Franco describes how he became convinced that Rendon was going to attack him because the fleeing cyclist was not trying hard enough to escape. Franco said several times that Rendon didn't flee like he was "supposed to," and described how simple movements — like a glance backwards or standing up — were interpreted as signs of a looming attack.

The police pursuit that led to Rendon's death began about 11:30 p.m. Pacific. Franco was driving east on Miles Avenue, in a neighborhood in Indio, when the officer spotted Rendon riding west on a bicycle with no headlight.

Franco decided to give Rendon a ticket, so he pulled a U-turn and began following the cyclist. Rendon, who had marijuana and methamphetamine in his system, and a pending warrant in a burglary case, began to flee. Rendon had a previous conviction for shoplifting, and was facing misdemeanor charges for trespassing and resisting arrest in a third court case.

Franco said Rendon then began to pedal faster, as if trying to escape, but not as fast as he possibly could. Rendon repeatedly looked over his shoulder at the cop car behind him.

Franco believed Rendon was "sizing him up."

"He's supposed to get (off) his bike and stop, or get on his bike and ride as fast as possible and don't look back. He didn't do either," Franco said. "I'm thinking, great, this is going to be — this is going to be one of those times where it's going to be a fight. He's going to attack me. He is going to do something to me."