El Monte High retires slain police officer Joseph Santana’s ‘no. 4’ from his football days at school
EL MONTE — Amid the sounds and Friday night lights of a high school football game, Officer Joe Garcia scrolled through the pictures on his cell phone to find the one like no other.
“Very proud,” he said, cradling the phone in his two hands, showing off its photo as if it was a precious jewel.
There it was. Garcia and Officer Joseph Santana, 31, in uniform at El Monte High School.
Smiles. Mentor and mentee. Stepfather. Stepson. A generation following in the other’s footsteps.
Twelve days after that picture was taken, Santana — who went to school here; who played football here; who met his wife here — would be gone, gunned down with his partner, Cpl. Michael Paredes, 42, while checking the welfare of a woman who possibly had been stabbed at the Siesta Inn on Garvey Avenue.
On a warm Friday night at El Monte High, a crowd gathered for a football game. The band played. The crowd oooh’d and ahhh’d. The cheerleaders swayed. The players took to the field. But come halftime, it was clear that this is a community — and a family — still processing, still absorbing the sudden loss of the quiet kid from El Monte High and his partner.
Santana’s No. 4 Lion’s jersey from when he played at El Monte was retired and presented to his family at halftime. Santana’s mother, Olga Garcia, his wife Sasha, those closest to them took to a field full of the police who knew Santana, city officials, coaches, players, cheerleaders and a marching band. Fire engines and police cars were parked in the backdrop.
A long silence preceded a police helicopter flyover, its siren wailing as it circled over the field, in tribute to the fallen officer.
It was one of a sparse number of public appearances made by Santana’s mother, Olga, who saw this event as vital to publicly remember her son, who graduated from El Monte High School in 2009.
But it wasn’t easy for a mom still heartbroken.
“They miss him. They still ask for their dad,” she said of her grandchildren, Santana’s three young children, daughter Jayde and twin boys, Josh and Jacob.
Garcia described her son as a homegrown officer and father, whose career journey went from El Monte to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to fulfilling his dream with the job El Monte Police in 2021.
His former football coach remembered Santana well.
Joel Sanchez, now a physical education teacher at El Monte High, said Santana pursued his dream.
“He always dreamed of coming back to El Monte as a police officer to serve the community he grew up in,” he said, noting Santana’s fandom for for the Los Angeles Angels, Green Bay Packers “and whatever basketball teams LeBron (James) played for.”
“He was always quiet but we always knew we could rely on him for a big play on defense,” the coach said, remembering “the big smile” he had when he played.
For Santana’s mother, she hoped the moment would be part of an enduring legacy.
“The retirement of Joseph’s high school football number helps keep my son’s memory alive in this city and this high school that he loved,” his mother told the crowd, her voice fragile with emotion.
It wouldn’t be long before the band struck up again. The second half was starting. There were hugs. Tears. More football to be played. (El Monte went on to win the game, 26-14.)
And for Garcia, that photo he took with his stepson was still frozen in time.
The deal at the time it was taken was that they would take another picture, in the same place, five years later.
That day won’t come. But Garcia will carry on, thinking of his stepson.
“Every day I wake up, work hard, treat people with respect, and help out as many people as I can,” he said. “That’s something he always wanted to do. He always wanted to help out kids and make sure they are going in the right direction.”
“Very proud,” he said.