Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Security Hold on Completed Autopsy of Officer Kevin Sandoval

The security hold has not been lifted from the death investigation of South Pas police officer who died June 14.

The autopsy of South Pasadena Police Officer Kevin Sandoval, 23--who died last week during a training exercise--has been completed, but the coroner's office says the security hold has not been lifted.

"Sheriff's homicide detectives have decided to put a security hold on it,'' Assistant Coroner Chief Ed Winter said Tuesday. "I don't know why."

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Winter was present at the hospital last Tuesday where Sandoval died; his personal impression was that there was an underlying medical cause for the death. Final results from toxicology--which can take up to a month to complete--have not been returned, according to City News Service.

“Although witness accounts suggest that Officer Sandoval fell and hit his head during a training exercise, there were no signs of significant head trauma discovered by attending physicians or the medical examiner,” South Pasadena officials said in a press release Friday. 

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Police Chief Joseph Payne, as well as many of his close friends, say Officer Sandoval worked out regularly and was always in good physical condition. 

A vigil and rosary are planned for the evening of Thursday, June 23, at Holy Family Church, with Mass planned the next day in Irwindale, followed by his burial in Covina.


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