Officer Arthur Paul Parga, 31, was killed on January 22, 1993, during a pre‑dawn narcotics search-warrant operation in a north Stockton neighborhood. Parga was serving with a special weapons and tactical unit assisting the countywide CRACNET narcotics task force when officers entered a home shortly after 2 a.m. The homeowner, Manuel Medina Ramirez, confronted the team and an exchange of gunfire followed; Parga was struck in the head and leg and died of his wounds. Ramirez was shot and killed by another officer during the confrontation.

Parga had served more than three years with the Stockton Police Department and previously with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department, where he led a high-profile arrest. He had been named the outstanding officer in his academy class. The department opened an internal review of the operation, and trust funds were set up to assist Parga’s pregnant wife and young son.