On February 9, 2019, Mr. Willie McCoy was reported to Vallejo police via 911 as unconscious behind the wheel of a vehicle and blocking the Taco Bell drive-through. VPD Officers arrived and found Mr. McCoy unconscious, a handgun in his lap, and his vehicle idling in drive with McCoy's foot on the brake. While Mr. McCoy's possession of a handgun in this condition provides officers a reason to detain/arrest him, the greater concern for officers was public safety. As VPD officers were implementing a plan to block McCoy's vehicle, McCoy awoke and reached down toward the handgun. He did this as VPD officers provided commands to show his hands. Officers fired their weapons in response.
The City Attorney's Office, keeping with City of Vallejo best practices on transparency and accountability, contracted with an independent court-certified expert to review the Officer-Involved Shooting of Willie McCoy. The expert, Mr. David Blake, M.Sc. is a retired peace officer with an extensive history in providing training to police officers in use of force and human factors psychology for police departments in multiple states. He also holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in criminal justice and psychology. In his review, Mr. Blake focused on human factors related to high-stress incidents as well as police training and constitutional standards associated with use of deadly force. Mr. Blake generally found that the use of deadly force during this incident was reasonable and in line with contemporary training and police practices. The expert's report is available at
bit.ly/CriticalIncident020919.
"While this report details the legal background and the reasons behind the expert's conclusions, it is important to recognize that there is a distinction between what use of force is defensible from a civil liability perspective and what overall outcome is desirable from an organizational and community perspective
,"
said City Attorney Claudia Quintana. "The death of Mr. McCoy is not the outcome that the City of Vallejo and our community desire. We understand how difficult this situation is for everyone involved. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing: for all persons to go home to their families, and we will continue working hard to identify those strategies that allow us to obtain desirable favorable outcomes to tough situations like the one addressed in the report."
It is important to note that the expert reviewed publicly available materials currently available in reaching his opinions. The on-going criminal and administrative investigations into the incident have not been concluded and are separate and in addition to this review.
