Fresno Officer's Death Inspires Sacramento Bill Expanding Correctional Officer Benefits

Toamalama Scanlan spent five years inside Kindred Hospital in Paramount after being shot in the head at the Fresno County Jail in September 2016. When he died in October 2021 at 46, he still could not be listed on the California Peace Officers Memorial because state law does not classify Fresno County correctional officers as peace officers. AB 2004, which passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee on an 8-0 unanimous bipartisan vote March 24, directly targets that statutory gap.

Authored by Assemblymember Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, the bill would grant correctional officers in Fresno and San Joaquin counties the same peace officer designation already extended to their counterparts in 40 other California counties, aligning their legal standing with deputy sheriffs and unlocking access to workers' compensation presumptions, line-of-duty injury and death benefits, and survivor protections that currently do not apply to them.

Scanlan had served 18 years in county law enforcement, eight with Fresno County Probation and ten with the Fresno County Sheriff's Office, and held the rank of Correctional Officer IV when Thong Vang walked into the main jail lobby on the morning of September 3, 2016. A former Fresno State defensive end who volunteered as a football assistant at Fresno Christian High, Scanlan was responding to commotion in the lobby when Vang, high on methamphetamine, opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun after officers directed him to wait. Scanlan came around a corner and was shot in the head and neck. He survived the day but sustained a traumatic brain injury that kept him hospitalized for the remaining five years of his life. He left behind his wife, Tepatasi, and six children. Vang was convicted and sentenced to 112 years to life in prison.

"Officer Scanlan's courage represents the very best of public service," Alanis said. "He answered the call without hesitation, and his sacrifice should be recognized in the same manner as any other peace officer in California."

For Fresno County jail staff, AB 2004's most tangible effect concerns what happens the next time someone is seriously injured or killed on duty. The peace officer designation triggers legal presumptions that ease the evidentiary burden on families pursuing workers' compensation and survivor benefit claims, a protection Scanlan's family navigated without across five years of hospitalizations. Without the classification, Fresno County corrections workers remain at a statutory disadvantage relative to colleagues doing equivalent work in the vast majority of the state.

"Correctional officers perform some of the most demanding and hazardous work in law enforcement, yet in some counties they are not afforded the same recognition as their peers doing identical work," Alanis said. "AB 2004 corrects that inconsistency and ensures these officers are treated fairly under the law."

Some law enforcement groups raised concerns about the fiscal impact of expanded presumptions and potential unintended consequences in the bill's specific language. For Fresno County, a shift in presumption standards could alter workers' compensation liability and insurance obligations, and those budget implications will be negotiated as the bill advances through the full Assembly and, if successful, the Senate.

The 8-0 committee vote signaled early bipartisan momentum, but Scanlan's name has been tied to Fresno's jail for nearly a decade, first as a victim of one of its worst days and now as the human argument for a law that would change how his successors are treated if history repeats.