Police action found ‘reasonable’ in report on McCoy shooting
An independent investigator hired by the city of Vallejo to review the fatal Feb. 9 police shooting of Willie McCoy found the use of force “reasonable and necessary,” according to a report released this week.
The report — released Monday and dated May 17 — revealed that the six Vallejo police officers who shot McCoy to death fired 55 rounds at him in just 3.5 seconds as he sat up in his car with a gun in his lap at a Taco Bell drive-thru.
McCoy, a local rapper, died on Feb. 9 after a restaurant employee called police to report a man slumped over at the wheel of a silver Mercedes. Responding officers found McCoy unresponsive with a gun in his lap and the car’s gear in drive, police said.
Police released body camera footage of the shooting in March. The video, which included police notes and edits as well as raw footage, shows officers discussing how to open McCoy’s car door and grab the gun in his lap before dragging him out of the car. The doors ended up being locked.
The video then shows McCoy beginning to move a short time later and his right hand scratches his left shoulder, before he bends forward and moves his left arm toward his lap. Officers shout at him to show his hands and almost immediately open fire through the windows, killing him with a barrage of bullets.
Attorney John Burris, who represents McCoy’s family in a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, said Wednesday that the report’s findings didn’t surprise him.
McCoy’s family members said police “bungled” their response “from start to finish.”
“They want vindication for their relative, their son, their brother’s life they view as wrongfully taken,” Burris said.
The city hired David Blake, a retired Livermore and BART police officer, to produce the report. Blake determined officers acted in line with current use-of-force practices.
“Officers are not required to wait until a weapon is pointed at them to take the necessary steps to save their own lives,” he wrote.
The police shooting drew international attention and sparked calls to reform the North Bay city’s Police Department.
Vallejo Police Chief Andrew Bidou announced his retirement amid growing criticism over the shooting, but he remains in place as the city searches for his replacement.
City Attorney Claudia Quintana said the report was shared with Vallejo police officials in the last three weeks and presented Friday to the Vallejo City Council. It will not be used in the Solano County district attorney’s investigation.
“Whether or not an officer is charged is an independent decision based on a different legal standard after an evaluation conducted wholly by the district attorney’s office,” Quintana said.
Burris said he has called on the California attorney general’s office to investigate what he alleged was discrimination and racial profiling in multiple use-of-force incidents by the department.
In reference to the 55 shots fired at McCoy, Blake’s report noted that law enforcement does not “generally receive stressbased training” to stop firing, but rather officers are taught to “fire until the threat has been neutralized.”
Melissa Nold, another attorney representing McCoy’s family, criticized the report and called Blake a “police defense expert.”
Blake also investigated the 2018 shooting of Stephon Clark and concluded that two Sacramento police officers had probable cause to fire at the unarmed man.
“This is just a continuation of the disrespect the McCoy family has experienced since this preventable loss of human life,” Nold said.
Blake declined to comment on the report when reached Wednesday.
Public records from the city show that Vallejo officials agreed to pay him up to $8,000 to consult on the case. Officials have not provided details on the report’s final cost.
The district attorney’s office has not said whether it would charge the officers involved in the shooting.