California cop cleared in fatal shooting left department after sexual-assault allegation

The Fontana police officer who recently was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the state Department of Justice in his fatal shooting of an apparently unarmed man in 2022 is no longer with the department, but his departure was unrelated to that case, Police Chief Michael Dorsey said.

Instead, Alex Millan’s employment ended after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2023, Dorsey said Wednesday, April 23.

Millan, in June 2022, shot to death 26-year-old vehicle passenger Darnell Trevon Travis, who investigators determined may have been holding a cellphone when Millan fired as the car pulled away as officers attempted to arrest both Travis, on suspicion of selling illegal firearms, and the driver.

Millan told investigators that he believed Travis had pointed a gun at him, but none was found.

The city agreed to pay Travis’ family $2 million to settle a federal lawsuit, court records show. The Police Department’s internal investigation determined that Millan had acted within policy, Dorsey said.

Then, in January 2024, a woman sued Millan and the city for $7 million, accusing the officer of sexually assaulting her while in his car. Officers, including Millan, had gone to her home on Jan. 13, 2023, and seized a reportedly stolen laptop computer, which she said had been a gift from her son’s father.

Millan later texted her and said he wanted to return the laptop, the lawsuit states.

Millan showed up at her home around midnight with the laptop and told her not to tell anyone he had been there, according to the lawsuit.  The woman told Millan that she was afraid he was going to arrest her, and then Millan told her to get in his car. It was unclear from the lawsuit whether this was a patrol car.

Millan then parked at a nearby gas station and demanded that the woman give him her phone. He then looked through her photos.

“So what are you going to do for me? You don’t seem to appreciate that I haven’t arrested you,” Millan said, according to the lawsuit. The woman responded: “I’m not going to do anything for you.”

Millan then drove the woman home, but while still in the car, said, “What, you don’t like to have sex?” and asked if he could touch her in a sexual way. The woman turned him down, yet Millan lowered her leggings and touched her anyway, the lawsuit says.

The woman then ran from the car.

The lawsuit was dismissed in February 2025 when Dorsey said there was a settlement. He declined to say specifically why Millan’s employment ended.

“There were accusations, there was an investigation, and he is no longer with the department,” Dorsey said Wednesday, April 23.

Millan was not charged with committing a crime, Superior Court records show.

A city spokeswoman would not say how much the city paid the accuser, telling a Southern California News Group reporter to file a request for the figure via the California Public Records Act.

The woman’s attorney, Jerry L. Steering, said he had signed an agreement promising not to disclose the amount.

Millan could not be reached for comment Friday.

That was at least the third lawsuit against Millan.

In 2020, Darryll Speer sued Millan, who was then a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy, and two other deputies, alleging excessive force. Speer said in the lawsuit that in 2018, Millan shot him as he walked carrying a shotgun in a non-threatening manner in a wash in the Town of Yucca Valley.

Speer, who said he was left paralyzed from the waist down, sued for unspecified damages. In 2021, a jury voted 8-0 in favor of Millan.

“The plaintiff shall take nothing,” U.S. District Court Judge Jesus G. Bernal wrote.