Chico parent Aurora Regino makes progress on appeal
by Natalie Hanson | Posted May 12, 2025
photo by Karen Laslo
CUSD offices
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has given new life to a lawsuit against Chico Unified School District that was filed in response to its policy that shaped the handling of a gender identity case.
The higher court in April said that U.S. Eastern District Court Judge John Mendez erred in dismissing a lawsuit filed by Chico parent Aurora Regino. Mendez said Regino didn’t have the legal foundation to pursue a claim opposing the district’s anti-discrimination and student privacy policy.
That policy prohibits the school from notifying parents about a student’s gender identity concerns or decisions without the student’s consent.read more
Effort underway to void referendum and move forward Valley's Edge
by Leslie Layton | Posted April 2, 2025
photo by Leslie Layton
The land east of city limits transitions into the foothills.
The Valley’s Edge development group has filed a lawsuit in Butte County Superior Court against the City of Chico, arguing that the 2024 referendum that has blocked its project from going forward must be voided.
The Believe in Chico LLC says that the state’s Housing Crisis Act of 2019 is grounds for voiding the referendum and allowing the development of 2,700 housing units and 57 acres of commercial development on vacant land east of city limits.
In a March 5 election last year, more than 60 percent of Chico voters opposed two measures related to the planned development known as Valley’s Edge.
The lawsuit filed March 20 in Butte County Superior Court and received by the City of Chico today argues that “housing shortfalls have reached crisis levels,” and adds that this city is “no stranger to this emergency.” It states that the Housing Crisis Act legislation prohibits passage of any kind of policy that stops housing development in the jurisdiction of an “affected city.”
“The Act applies to the ‘electorate of an affected county or city exercising its local initiative or referendum power,’” states the lawsuit, quoting a statute.
Believe in Chico LLC is what was formerly known as Chico Land Investment. It says the project was approved by the City and in keeping with the 2030 General Plan. It also notes that the City planned to annex the property.
The lawsuit says a “controversy has arisen” with the City over the “lawfulness of the Referendums.” The lawsuit was filed by a Los Angeles firm on behalf of Douglas Guillon and Believe in Chico.
Valley’s Edge, as it was originally planned, could place almost 5,600 people in southeast Chico where the valley floor transitions into foothills.
Chico resident Eric Nilsson, who worked on the Stop Valley’s Edge campaign with the group Smart Growth Advocates, said last year that volunteers who canvassed met voters who were clear about their misgivings. “What we found out is that what Chicoans don’t want is sprawl development that’s going to put more pressure on the infrastructure of the City,” Nilsson told ChicoSol.
Earlier this year, Butte County Superior Court Judge Michael Candela predicted that Valley’s Edge would be back in one form or another, and he placed a stay on a lawsuit filed by environmental groups Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and AquAlliance.
“The court believes there is a high likelihood that a new project will take the place of the former Valley’s Edge project,” the judge said in denying the City’s motion to dismiss the suit. “… this court has been around this county for a very long time. The issues from this case are unlikely to go away. However, the case is stayed until further order of the court.”
U.S. District Court Judge Dale A. Drozd has denied the City of Chico’s motion for relief from final judgment in the case Warren v. Chico.
The case led to a settlement agreement in 2022 that prohibited the City from enforcing anti-camping ordinances when adequate shelter was unavailable. The City later sought to modify or terminate that agreement, citing changes in the law (the Grants Pass v. Johnson decision by the U.S. Supreme Court) and changed circumstances, such as public health and safety concerns.
The court order says the City failed to prove that some public safety issues, like fires and crimes, have worsened after entering the Settlement Agreement.
“It is undisputed by the parties that the number of fires attributable to homeless people in general has been reduced during the operation of the Settlement Agreement compared to the number that took place prior to their entry into the Settlement Agreement,” the order says. “…nor have they presented evidence showing that the level of crime in Chico has changed since their entry into that agreement.”
District 4 Councilmember Addison Winslow commented in an Instagram post.
“What the judge gave us is the resounding rejection of everything that the City claimed,” Winslow says.
“We can negotiate a plan that can outlast the Settlement Agreement so we find a way to really workably handle homelessness in our community,” Winslow said, “or we can sit and complain.”
Scott and Paula Rushing have spent six years fighting the City of Chico over its role in the killing of their son, Tyler.
Now, the Rushings face yet another hurdle -— they’ve been denied police records about the 2017 shooting and tasering of Tyler.
Scott Rushing, a Ventura resident, has filed a lawsuit claiming the City of Chico violated California’s public transparency laws by refusing to provide Chico Police Department records.
It is not the first time Rushing has claimed the City withheld records of his son’s death from his family.
“I feel that I am being punished by City officials,” Rushing said. “This is a retaliation tactic by the City against my wife and I for pursuing a jury trial for the Chico PD officers involved in killing our son. The need to hire a costly attorney to sue the City of Chico to release public records, to obey state laws, and to be transparent should be unnecessary.”
City officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the Rushings’ new lawsuit. Last summer, Police Chief Billy Aldridge emailed a statement to ChicoSol, stating in part that “…the City does not allow any employee to speak on cases with pending litigation … Once the case is adjudicated, I will be happy to speak with you about it.”
The City last year settled a lawsuit with ChicoSol contributor Dave Waddell, over violations of the California Public Records Act. Under the settlement agreement, the City paid $43,637 and provided the documents Waddell requested — public records related to four killings by or involving officers at the Chico Police Department – – in some cases 19 months after the requests were first made.
Rushing filed the claim Aug. 30 in Butte County Superior Court for a petition of declaratory relief and writ of mandate under the California Public Records Act.
He had filed two Public Records Act requests with the City during December 2022, seeking a PowerPoint presentation that he says Chico PD’s command staff produced after his son died on July 23, 2017. He also sought the names of the officers who were members of the Hostage or Crisis Negotiating teams and may have been on duty that night.
In a response filed to Rushing’s complaint, the City said the records are exempt under the Public Records Act’s government code section that allows officials to withhold records from the public for multiple reasons.
The City said on Dec. 20, 2022, that the officers’ names Rushing requested were also exempt under the Public Records Act, citing a 1991 case involving the “deliberative process” doctrine, Times Mirror Co. v. Superior Court.
“The records you seek have the potential of revealing sensitive and strategic information regarding security measures implemented to protect the City’s uniformed personnel,” the City wrote in response. “The city’s interest in protecting sensitive security measures clearly outweighs the public’s interest in access to the same.”
Rushing believes the Public Records Act, Senate Bill 1421, Assembly Bill 748 and Senate Bill 16 mandate disclosure of the records requested. In particular, Rushing noted SB 1421 states that concealing crucial public safety matters undercuts the public’s faith in law enforcement.
He also wants the judge to conduct an in camera review of some or all of the records requested and asks that if the court does not immediately order disclosure, that the City be ordered to show cause and disclose the records.
Rushing’s attorney on the documents case, Aaron Field, said no timeline for proceedings has been set.
“Because this is a Public Records Act case, if Mr. Rushing prevails, the public will prevail as well,” Field said. “These records would shed more light on how this tragedy happened as a matter of City policy, and on how City policy has changed or should change as a result.
“The public has a compelling interest in answering these questions. Recent police records disclosure laws … and our Supreme Court’s recognition that ‘openness in government is essential to the functioning of a democracy,’ recognize this.”
The Rushings’ separate civil rights lawsuit regarding how their son was killed and tasered may be finally headed to a civil trial in federal court before U.S. Senior District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr.
England granted the City’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit in its entirety in 2020, but that ruling was partially overturned on appeal. The judge then denied the City’s motions aimed at again tossing the entire suit in July. A stipulation filed Sept. 26 shows that the parties will meet in a settlement conference before Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman on Nov. 28.
Natalie Hanson is a contributing writer to ChicoSol.
Latest lawsuit filed against City and Chico PD alleges excessive force
by ChicoSol staff | Posted August 17, 2023
In June, Kona Rush of Chico filed a lawsuit alleging excessive force during the arrest of her 17-year-old daughter on suspicion of drunken driving. The suit accuses Chico Police Sgt. Mark Bass of unnecessarily rough treatment of Lilly Rush, whose arm was healing from surgery at the March incident. Bass is now a defendant in two lawsuits. This video, produced by Julian Mendoza and Dave Waddell, tells the story of the sergeant’s checkered history.
ChicoSol’s coverage raised doubts about his killer’s story
by Dave Waddell | Posted October 3, 2022
Gabriel Sanchez with his grandfather, Eddie, at the July memorial in Chico.
The father of Eddie Gabriel “Gabe” Sanchez, an armed robbery suspect shot to death by police officer Mark Bass in 2015, has sued Bass and the City of Chico on behalf of Sanchez’s teen-age son.
The wrongful death complaint was recently filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento by civil rights attorneys Stanley Goff of San Francisco and Fulvio Cajina of Oakland. In seeking unspecified damages, the complaint asserts violations of Sanchez’s son’s Fourth Amendment rights due to excessive police violence and of his 14th Amendment rights because of loss of the companionship of his father.
In a press release announcing the legal action, the Sanchez family noted that new details were disclosed about the killing in a ChicoSol investigative report published earlier this year. The family’s press statement asserts that “forensic evidence analysis” contradicts the story Bass told investigators.
“It is also apparent that DA Michael Ramsey’s report on the killing omitted pertinent eyewitness accounts and misrepresented one officer’s testimony, which led to the wrongful exoneration of Mark Bass,” says the release.
“The family of Gabe Sanchez wants justice for his unnecessary killing and the subsequent cover-up of police wrongdoing by Butte County DA Michael Ramsey. We want Mark Bass to face a jury trial for his actions and to be fired from the Chico Police Department, and California State Attorney [General] Rob Bonta to look into … [Ramsey’s] corruption.”
Ramsey did not respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit or about the family’s allegations of corruption and a “cover-up.”
Eddie Sanchez, a longtime Paradise resident, is the father of Gabe and grandfather of Gabriel Sanchez, 17, of Elk Grove. Gabriel, who was 10 years old when he lost his father, is a high school senior who plays saxophone in school bands and plans to major in civil engineering in college, his grandfather said. Because Gabriel is a minor, he is referred to as “G.I.S.E” in the litigation.
Besides Bass, David Bailey was also named as a defendant in the complaint. Both were detectives at the time of the killing and both were promoted to sergeant in recent years. Bailey, who had his handgun pointed at Gabe Sanchez when Bass fatally shot Sanchez twice in the left cheek, did not join in the shooting. Bailey told investigators he did not know where Sanchez was pointing the gun that both detectives claimed Sanchez was holding. Two non-police witnesses told investigators the fleeing Sanchez’s hands were empty, with one claiming police pulled a gun from Sanchez’s holster after he was shot down, according to investigative records obtained under a California Public Records Act request.
It was members of Sanchez’s family who had alerted Chico PD to his alleged involvement in two armed robberies — in an attempt, they said, to end his criminal activity and avoid the very thing that happened to him.
Interim Chico Police Chief Billy Aldridge told ChicoSol “the involved employees along with myself are not at liberty to discuss active litigation.” Aldridge referred inquiries to City Attorney Vince Ewing, who did not respond.
Eddie Sanchez, Gabe’s father, has operated a landscaping service in Paradise for more than 40 years. At a July public memorial in Chico for those killed by law enforcement officers in Butte County, Eddie discussed Gabe.
“It’s too emotional to talk about because he was my first son, and I wake up every morning and no doubt it’s in my head: ‘What happened here?’”
Eddie recalled first taking Gabe to work when he was about 6 years old, and Gabe pulling weeds and doing other little chores.
“And he grow up to go to work for me and help me out, and always was there for me,” Eddie said. “The bottom line is I miss my boy, with all my heart, every day.”
Sheryl Sanchez, Gabe’s stepmother, also spoke emotionally at the memorial, saying, “It’s really hard to go on with your life when you’ve lost someone like this.”
(video by Leslie Layton)
Bass claimed in a videotaped interview that Sanchez, while fleeing, turned and pointed his gun at the detective as they directly faced each other. Seth Stoughton, a national expert on police use of force, told ChicoSol that Sanchez’s wounds seemed to contradict Bass’ account. An investigation overseen by DA Ramsey never questioned Bass about any such contradiction nor about the conflicting accounts from multiple non-police eyewitnesses.
The press statement also notes that the Sanchez slaying “occurred under the leadership of the then Chico PD Chief Mike O’Brien, who also was police chief when Desmond Phillips and Tyler Rushing were killed [within four months of each other in 2017], also leading to wrongful death lawsuits.” O’Brien is now a member of the Chico City Council that makes decisions about defending and settling such lawsuits.
After various legal gambits, including a petition from the City that was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, the suit brought by the Rushing family has been ordered to trial in federal court. However, more than five years after Tyler’s death on July 23, 2017, a trial date has yet to be scheduled.
David Phillips, father of Desmond Phillips, allowed his lawsuit against the City to lapse after parting ways with prominent Oakland civil rights attorney John L. Burris, whose office filed the Phillips suit. David Phillips did not replace Burris with another attorney but instead took over the case himself and then missed a case filing deadline. David continues to call for murder charges against the officers who riddled his son’s body with bullets on March 17, 2017.
In 2019, the City of Chico paid $950,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the mother of Breanne Sharpe. The 19-year-old Sharpe was shot in the back of the head by a Chico police sergeant while fleeing in a vehicle in 2013.
Stephen Vest, the latest person killed by Chico police on Oct. 14, 2020, apparently had few living relatives and none close enough to bring a wrongful death lawsuit. Stoughton, the national police expert, after viewing a body camera video of Vest’s killing, said excessive shots were fired by officer Tyler Johnson, who shot nine times. Vest, who held a knife and was about 12 feet away from Johnson when the gunfire began, was hit twice in the back and once in the back of the neck, among other wounds received while he fell or was down.
Dave Waddell is a contributing writer to ChicoSol and a journalist who is working on a book about Butte County law enforcement killings.
