Cal-OSHA nabs win amid Superior Court battle with Yuba County Sheriff’s Office

A superior court judge ordered a Yuba County Sheriff’s lieutenant to cooperate with state workplace investigators as a legal battle continues between the sheriff’s office and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health over a probe into an officer’s death.

The decision in favor of Cal-OSHA followed the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office voluntarily releasing several previously-withheld documents the workplace investigators had requested, citing privacy protections granted to peace officers.

The legal test of Cal-OSHA’s authority to investigate law enforcement agencies for workplace safety violations, even when related to an officer’s death, comes after the sheriff’s office largely rebuffed the agency’s attempts to subpoena for interviews and documents related to the killing of Marysville Police officer Osmar Rodarte.

Rodarte was killed in March during a law enforcement operation at an Olivehurst home of a suspected drug trafficker as part of a task force led by the sheriff’s office. The raid was one of many throughout Yuba, Sutter and neighboring counties that cracked down on a suspected transnational drug trafficking ring, according to authorities.

Yuba Superior Court Judge Stephen W. Berrier in a decision filed Monday, following a late December court hearing, ordered Yuba County Sheriff’s Lt. Chad Watson to meet with Cal-OSHA investigators in person Jan. 16 in compliance with a subpoena the state agency first sent months ago when its investigation began.

Watson, who Cal-OSHA investigators sought to interview, and Rajinder Gill, a Sutter County Sheriff’s lieutenant, led the tactical teams that participated in the operation during which Rodarte was killed.

The sheriff’s office voluntarily released some documents and video to Cal-OSHA amid late-December court hearings that weighed the sheriff’s request to reject the subpoenas for interviews and documents against Cal-OSHA’s request to uphold them.

The judge scheduled another hearing for Jan. 20 to assess whether the sheriff’s office fulfilled the Cal-OSHA records subpoena, including whether exempted documents were properly identified and justified for being withheld.

Why take this to court?

Cal-OSHA began its investigation into the sheriff’s office and the Marysville Police Department in late April, about a month after Rodarte was killed inside the home of a suspected drug trafficker.

The workplace watchdog claims in court documents that the sheriff’s office largely refused to cooperate with its attempt to interview employees and acquire law enforcement records. An investigator for the state agency sought documents related to training, assigned job titles and tasks during the operation in which Rodarte was killed. The investigator also sought specifications on the body armor and ballistic shield used by the late officer.

The agency’s authority to investigate stems from Senate Bill 553, which was amended to broaden the scope of employers, including law enforcement agencies, to maintain workplace violence prevention plans. Some exemptions for law enforcement agencies exist, but Cal-OSHA claims the sheriff’s office refused to prove its exemption, according to court documents.

The sheriff’s office has rejected Cal-OSHA’s application of the law, and last summer filed a lawsuit in Yuba Superior Court challenging the subpoenas. In October the agency fined the police department $153,000 and the sheriff’s office $184,000 for violations related to Rodarte’s death. Officials called the actions “unprecedented” and “unfounded.”

What happened to the officer?

Rodarte, while executing a search warrant at an Olivehurst home the morning of March 26, was killed by a single gunshot, which authorities said was fired by Rick David Oliver.

Rodarte and Yuba County Sheriff’s Sgt. Daniel Trumm simultaneously exchanged a barrage of gunfire with Oliver inside the home, killing the low-level drug-trafficking suspect.

The lone .357 round fired by Oliver struck Rodarte’s lower abdomen, which was not covered by the body armor he wore that day, hitting a major artery and causing severe blood loss that killed Rodarte within minutes, according to a Yuba County District Attorney report.

Yuba County District Attorney Clint Curry in early October cleared Rodarte and Trumm of potential wrongdoing, deeming their gunfire in response to Oliver as justified self-defense.

The task force that entered the Olivehurst home was part of a broader crackdown throughout Yuba, Sutter, Butte and Tehama counties that day targeting suspected transnational drug trafficking, according to authorities.

This story was originally published January 8, 2026 at 5:00 AM.