The 2019 killing of the 20-year-old rapper raised scrutiny of Vallejo police department, which has a history of brutality

A California city has agreed to pay $5m to the family of a 20-year-old who was sleeping in his car when police approached and shot him 55 times in 2019.

The city of Vallejo, north-east of San Francisco, said in a statement on Wednesday that the city council approved the payout to the relatives of Willie McCoy, an aspiring Bay Area rapper fatally shot by six officers in a case that sparked national outrage. McCoy was in his car at a Taco Bell on 9 February 2019 when the police arrived and quickly fired a barrage of bullets into his vehicle.

Police claimed McCoy had “moved his hands downward” toward a gun, but body-camera footage did not capture that and instead appeared to show that he had been startled awake and moved his hand to scratch his shoulder. The footage also showed that officers had not tried to wake him or announce they were police before pointing firearms at his head. Before McCoy awoke, officers said: “If he reaches for it, you know what to do,” and “I’m going to pull him out and snatch his ass.”

  • WashedOver@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    What a disturbing read from a single individual at large running amok. Can’t imagine what would happen if it was one of these home brew militias groups.

    Seems like he was trying to report excessive force against the force. What a terrible outcome for the innocent daughter of the former chief and then the civilian victims of the police force being nervous of their own shadow:

    Police shooting of unrelated civilians

    In two separate incidents in the early morning hours of February 7, 2013, police fired on people who turned out to be unrelated to Dorner. Dorner was not present at either of the incidents.[96]

    At about 5:30 am (PST), at least seven[97] LAPD officers on a protection detail of an unnamed LAPD official’s residence in the 19500 block of Redbeam Street[98] in Torrance opened fire on the back of a light blue Toyota Tacoma and shot its two occupants, Emma Hernandez (71) and her daughter, Margie Carranza (47)[97][99] delivering newspapers for the Los Angeles Times.[10][97] The vehicle, according to officers, was spotted exiting a freeway and heading to the area of the residence that officers were protecting, was thought by police to match the description of Dorner’s Nissan Titan and was moving without its headlights on.[96][100] Hernandez was shot in the back and Carranza received wounds to her hand. Their attorney claimed police “had no idea who was in that vehicle” when they opened fire, and that nothing about his clients or their vehicle matched the descriptions given of the suspect or his truck.[101] The two women stated that they were given no warning prior to being fired upon.[102] A neighbor said the truck was used every day to deliver newspapers, and the women who used it kept their headlights off so as to not wake people up.[103] The two women were injured, but both survived.[104][105] The LAPD started an internal investigation into the shooting. According to their attorney Glen Jonas, 102 bullet holes were found in the truck.[106] The LAPD declined to confirm the total number of officers involved or how many bullets were fired or if any verbal warnings were given to the women before the shooting began.[100]

    Approximately 25 minutes after that incident, officers from the Torrance Police Department (TPD) struck and opened fire on another vehicle.[11] Like the first shooting, the incident involved a vehicle that police claimed resembled the description of Dorner’s truck, but was later discovered to be a black Honda Ridgeline driven by David Perdue, a white male.[107][108] A TPD police cruiser slammed into Perdue’s pickup and officers opened fire. Perdue, who was on his way to the beach to surf, was not hit by any of the bullets, but reportedly suffered injuries as a result of the car impact.[11] Police claim that Perdue’s pickup truck “matched the description” of the one belonging to Dorner. However, the Times reported that the vehicle involved was once again a different make and color to that of the suspect’s, and that Perdue “looks nothing like” the suspect.[11] Settlement paid edit

    In April 2013 the LAPD paid a $4.2 million settlement to Margie Carranza and Emma Hernandez.[109] The city of Torrance initially offered a $500,000 settlement to David Perdue, who rejected the offer.[110] With the Perdue case set to go to trial in August 2014, the parties reached an agreement in July 2014 for a $1.8 million settlement.[111] Use-of-force policy violation edit

    On February 4, 2014, LAPD chief Charlie Beck announced that eight officers had violated the LAPD’s use-of-force policy and would be disciplined. Beck noted that California state law prevents him from disclosing the nature of the discipline publicly, but that discipline could range “from extensive retraining up to termination.”[112][113] Disciplinary actions for the officers involved did not include criminal charges.[114]

    • snooggums@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Every one of those officers involved should have been charged with reckless endangerment at a minimum.

    • datavoid@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      When trying to clear your name, you NEVER start by executing your lawyer’s daughter and her husband.