Spencer Carmen Mendez

How they died

Deadly force

Officers were responding to a hit-and-run. A witness to the crash followed the Lexus and gave updates to dispatchers on its location. When an officer found the other, he attempted to pull over the driver, who led him on a high-speed pursuit. When the Lexus stopped, Spencer Carmen Mendez, 15, fled into the adjacent field. He was unarmed. Believing Mendez to be armed, Ceres Officer Ross Bays shot and killed the teenager with no warning. The DA ruled the shooting justified, but the city of Ceres paid a $2 million settlement to the teenager's family. The year prior, the city of Ceres had paid a $2 million settlement to the family of man killed by the same officer.

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Spencer Carmen Mendez, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources