Vallejo officer set to be questioned in federal lawsuit
After being cleared in the fatal February 2018 shooting death of Ronell Foster, Vallejo police Ofc. Ryan McMahon is ready to be deposed in a federal wrongful death lawsuit, court records filed this week show.
McMahon originally expressed
his intent to exercise his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination last October — temporarily halting the lawsuit filed by Foster’s family against McMahon and the city of Vallejo.
The deposition is now scheduled for Feb. 27 after Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams released a report on Jan. 31 stating that the officer was justified when he fatally shot the 33-year-old man seven times after the two tussled behind a building in the 400 block of Carolina St. on Feb. 13, 2018.
Foster’s family has hired two civil rights law firms: John Burris Law Offices and Haddad & Sherwin LLP.
McMahon said he was attempting to “educate” Foster about driving recklessly and not having a light on the bicycle.
Foster fled on the bicycle, leading McMahon on a chase over several city blocks. Foster ditched his bicycle at one point and started running while the officer got out of his cruiser and ran after him.
McMahon told investigators that he saw Foster reaching for his waistband several times and believing the man may be armed with a weapon, McMahon discharged his Taser. That didn’t stop the man, as Foster continued to run away until falling along a walkway behind a building on Carolina Street.
McMahon caught up and pushed Foster down as he tried to get up. The officer said he used a drive stun approach of placing the weapon against Foster’s body to subdue the man but that didn’t work as well.
McMahon said he began hitting Foster with a flashlight. At some point, Foster got up and “ripped” the flashlight from McMahon’s hand.
McMahon told investigators he feared for his life and that’s when he shot Foster seven times.
A trial in the case is set for December 2020.
McMahon was one of six officers who shot and killed 20-year-old Willie McCoy in February 2019 as he sat in the front seat of his car near a local drive-through restaurant. The officers fired 55 times, striking McCoy with more than 20 bullets.
Last fall, McMahon was placed on paid administrative leave. It’s not known if the decision to put him on leave has anything to do with the Foster and/or McCoy incidents.