CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA - In March 2022, former Danville police officer Andrew Hall was sentenced to six years in prison for the 2018 shooting of an unarmed motorist, Lauderner Arboleda. Hall was convicted of assault with a firearm. Last week, Hall was released from jail, according to NBC Bay Area.
At the time he was sentenced, authorities said that Hall would need to serve at least 85% of his sentence– 5.1 years– in prison after being convicted of what was defined as a violent felony. In response, anti-police activists and family members held a rally outside the Contra Costa County sheriff’s department office in Martinez.
Family members expressed “shock” at Hall’s release, calling it “devastating.”
“He’s a convicted felon. He was supposed to do six years, and I don’t understand why he’s not doing six years or at least 85% of that,” said Arboleda’s sister, Jennifer Arboleda Leong.
The family shared a notice of release for Hall from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, notifying family that he was being paroled from the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. There was no reason for his early release, and CDCR officials did not respond to a message.
The incident occurred in Danville on Nov. 3, 2018, at the end of a slow-speed pursuit. Police received a report that Arboleda knocked on someone’s door, and when police made contact with him as he drove away, he pulled over and stopped multiple times, only to drive away from police each time. During one encounter, officers drew their firearms as Arboleda drove away, although no shots were fired.
Hall intercepted Arboleda by pulling his cruiser in front of him. As he stood next to the right front, Arboleda again began to pull away at a slow speed. Hall fired 10 times, hitting Arboleda nine times. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
At the time, Hall’s lawyers said he was acting in self-defense as the vehicle drove toward him. Bodycam footage showed that a number of the shots came from the passenger side of Arboleda’s vehicle as he drove away. The car ended up crossing the road and crashed into an oncoming vehicle.
The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department conducted a preliminary investigation and cleared Hall of wrongdoing, and nothing further happened.
In March 2021, Hall was involved in another on-duty shooting, where he shot and killed 32-year-old transient Tyrell Wilson adjacent to Interstate 680, with bodycam footage showing Wilson approaching Hall with a knife. Again, Hall was cleared of wrongdoing in Wilson’s death.
Two years after Arboleda’s death, George Soros-backed Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton charged Hall with his death, KTVU reported. Becton received over $1 million from a Soros-backed PAC, the California Justice & Public Safety PAC. Soros personally contributed $652,000 of the $1.002 million spent on Becton's campaign by the PAC, according to Pleasonton Weekly.
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