Autopsy Results Of 23-Year-Old South Pasadena Police Officer Ordered Sealed

SOUTH PASADENA (CBS) — The coroner's office has been ordered to not release results of an autopsy on the body of a 23-year-old South Pasadena police officer who died during a training exercise at a shooting range last week.

"Sheriff's homicide detectives have decided to put a security hold on it," assistant coroner Ed Winter said. "I don't now why."

Final results from toxicology tests have not been returned, Winter added. Those tests can take about a month to complete.

Winter said he was at the hospital last Tuesday where Officer Kevin Sandoval died, and his personal impression was there was a medical cause for the death. South Pasadena Police Chief Joseph Payne also said Sandoval's death may have been related to an unspecified "medical condition."

Although witness accounts suggest that Sandoval fell and hit his head during a training exercise, there were no signs of significant head trauma discovered by attending physicians or the medical examiner," Payne said.

The Covina resident was among the South Pasadena and Pasadena officers participating in an exercise at the Burro Canyon shooting range about 2 p.m. when he collapsed, a California Highway Patrol officer said.

Sandoval was taken Foothill Presbyterian Hospital in Glendora, where he was declared dead about an hour later.

Sandoval's funeral is set for Friday at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Irwindale.

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