Late on the evening of Tuesday, April 13, 2010, thirty-two-year-old Darrel Roy Stanley was at a supermarket in the 11700 block of West Olympic Boulevard in the Sawtelle district of West Los Angeles. Around 11:00 p.m., store personnel suspected Stanley of shoplifting merchandise from the premises. When he exited the business into the outside parking lot, a private security guard confronted him regarding the alleged theft.
The encounter quickly escalated into a physical altercation on the pavement outside the store. According to statements released by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner, the security guard approached Stanley and tackled him to the ground in the parking lot. During or immediately following the physical restraint, Stanley lost consciousness and became completely unresponsive.
Emergency medical services were dispatched to the supermarket parking lot along West Olympic Boulevard to administer lifesaving aid. Paramedics transported Stanley to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment, but medical personnel were unable to revive him. Stanley, a White male, was pronounced dead shortly before midnight at 11:53 p.m.
The incident was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department's West Los Angeles Division. The coroner's office initially classified the fatality as a suspected homicide before temporarily deferring an official finding while toxicology screenings and specialized forensic tests were conducted over the following months. In October 2010, coroner's officials formally ruled the death a homicide. The official autopsy determined that the cause of death was traumatic apnea in conjunction with a concussion, with alcohol intoxication, an enlarged heart, and thyroiditis listed as contributing factors.
The commercial stretch of West Olympic Boulevard where the altercation took place is a bustling transit and retail corridor connecting West Los Angeles and neighboring Santa Monica. In 2010, the city of Los Angeles recorded nearly three hundred homicides, though physical confrontations involving private loss prevention personnel in retail settings remained exceedingly rare. In the aftermath of the coroner's homicide ruling, the identity of the security guard was not publicly identified in press releases, and authorities did not announce any criminal arrests or charges.
More than a decade after the fatal confrontation, the investigation into the exact circumstances surrounding the restraint remains unresolved. Investigators have continued to review open cases and welcome any additional information from witnesses who may have been in the supermarket or surrounding parking lot on the night Darrel Roy Stanley lost his life.
