Hanford officer charged with manslaughter accused of using excessive force on woman

HANFORD, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A resident is speaking out against a Hanford Police officer who she said used excessive force on her against her will. This comes after authorities announced the officer’s arrest on Wednesday and said he was facing charges of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 55-year-old Richard Saunders.

Kaitlyn Chesser, who provided us with bodycam video of the incident back in 2020, obtained by her attorney, says she was grabbed and thrown by the same officer, Brian Scandura.

“You see him shove me into a door, throw me into my car, telling me, stop fighting when I’m obviously not fighting at all,” Chesser said while she was narrating the video of her arrest.

One appearing to show Scandura place his hands around her neck, and eventually arms, pinning her to the ground in front of her husband and kids.

She showed images from that day and the days following. An image showed severe bruising.

Bruising that his since gone away, but still, she says she carries the mental scars with her every day.

“Even now I can’t watch that without shaking, and it’s been five years,” she told us, her voice trembling. “That’s affected me pretty hard because no one deserves to be treated like that,” she cried.

Chesser says after the incident, she filed a complaint with the police department against Scandura and his partner that day, Officer Domingo Bursiaga, who Chesser says used excessive force as well.

“You can see Bursiaga’s knee on my neck,” she told us, continuing to narrate.

However, Chesser says the officers were exonerated, and that she was given a letter from Hanford Police explaining their findings, one she provided to YourCentralValley.com.

Roughly five years later, after seeing the same officer’s arrest on the newscasts on Wednesday, being indicted in the death of Saunders, she says she knew she had to bring this back into the public eye.

“The fact that this person was killed over a bike light is absolutely ridiculous,” she cried, referring to Saunders’ death, and the accusations he was thrown to the ground by Scandura, handcuffed, before fatally hitting his head. “That is honestly the main reason I stepped forward, because they can’t keep doing this,” she said.

YourCentralValley.com sent the video to Hanford Police, but they are declining to comment on either case at this time.

Legal analyst Mark King says the video could even potentially be part of the court proceedings moving forward.

“The judge would ultimately decide whether or not that evidence would come into trial. If it did come out, obviously it would be very damaging,” King said.

Scandura will be arraigned at Kings County Superior Court on Sept. 24.