Following impassioned public comment from Vallejo families impacted by police violence, officials at the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) on Thursday committed to investigating nine current and former Vallejo officers under a new law that could ultimately see them stripped of their peace officer powers.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California filed a complaint on Oct. 11 urging POST to investigate allegations of serious misconduct and begin decertifying Vallejo officers under the Kenneth Ross Jr. Police Decertification Act of 2021, also known as Senate Bill 2.
“We recognize that decertification does not bring back a person’s loved one, but it is a last-opportunity tool for accountability,” said Marshal Arnwine, Jr., a legal and policy advocate at the ACLU.
Vallejo police spokesperson Sgt. Rashad Hollis declined to comment for this article.
In response to the ACLU’s complaint, POST Accountability Advisory Board Chair Joyce Dudley said at Thursday’s meeting that “everything within this 49-page document is or will be investigated.”
Relatives of Vallejo police shooting victims Willie McCoy, Ronell Foster, Jeremiah Moore, Sean Monterrosa and Mario Romero spoke at the meeting after traveling to West Sacramento. Dudley offered tearful condolences after speakers shared the impacts the violence had on their families and communities.
“We are all here to see that some accountability is taken because there hasn’t been any, and it’s been twelve years,” Lisa Moore told Open Vallejo. In 2012, Vallejo Police Ofc. Sean Kenney killed her son Jeremiah Moore, who she said was on the autism spectrum.
“It used to be ‘protect and serve.’ Now it’s ‘shoot to kill’ and cover it up,” Jeremiah Moore’s father Eugene Moore said during public comment.
The ACLU seeks the decertification of five officers who are currently employed by the Vallejo Police Department: Colin Eaton, Jordon Patzer, Bryan Glick, and Mark Thompson, all of whom participated in the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Willie McCoy in 2019; and Det. Jarrett Tonn, who fatally shot 22-year-old Sean Monterrosa in 2020.
Monterrosa’s sisters, Michelle and Ashley, began advocating for the passage of Senate Bill 2 one month after Tonn killed their brother during a protest against police brutality and the killing of George Floyd, said Michelle Monterrosa.
“We know that Vallejo has been overlooked, and it’s caused a lot of harm,” Michelle Monterrosa told Open Vallejo. “No one has been bold enough to do their jobs. Impacted families have been ignored and in the shadows.”
The complaint also requests investigations into recent Vallejo officers Anthony Romero-Cano and Ryan McMahon, both of whom participated in the McCoy shooting, as well as former officers Sean Kenney and Dustin Joseph.
In 2020, Vallejo fired McMahon, who also shot 33-year-old Ronell Foster in 2018, for allegedly endangering Glick during the McCoy shooting. The troubled Broadmoor Police Department hired McMahon in 2022 but let him go after less than six months; he no longer works in law enforcement. Romero-Cano retired from the Vallejo Police Department in May.
“I sincerely hope this commission was not assembled to pacify the people but to truly protect the people,” Kori McCoy, Willie’s older brother, said during public comment. “Impacted families in Vallejo have been made promises by disingenuous politicians for decades.”
According to the ACLU’s complaint, most instances of serious misconduct by Vallejo police occurred before Senate Bill 2 became law on Jan. 1, 2022. The ACLU is asking POST to apply its discretion to review older cases that fall outside a mandatory reporting window.
Vallejo police killed at least 20 people between 2010 and 2022, making the department one of the deadliest law enforcement agencies per capita in the country, Open Vallejo research shows. The city of Vallejo has paid millions to settle civil rights lawsuits in recent years, including more than $13 million in settlements relating to officers named in the ACLU complaint. A clique of officers, including Kenney, Joseph, and McMahon, allegedly participated in the department’s notorious badge-bending ritual, in which officers bent the tips of their badges each time they killed a civilian.
The city is now engaged in a settlement agreement with the California Department of Justice that outlines a set of policy and training reforms, starting with the department’s handling of citizen complaints and officers’ use of force.
At Thursday’s meeting, David Harrison, Willie McCoy’s cousin, called for the officers named in the complaint to be decertified, but said most families in attendance also want “true justice.”
“Why are these people allowed to work in occupations that call for people to have moral and legal standards? On the contrary, these people have been rewarded and promoted time and time again in these ritual murders,” he said during public comment.
Angela Sullivan, Ronell Foster’s aunt, said her mother “died from a broken heart” four months after McMahon shot and killed her nephew. Just under a year later, McMahon participated in the Vallejo police killing of Willie McCoy.
“Had he been off the streets after he killed my child, Willie would still be here,” Sullivan said.
Kris Kelley, the sister of Mario Romero, said before her brother’s death, she did not realize how many other people in Vallejo were impacted by police murders. Kenney and Joseph fatally shot Romero in 2012.
“Our lives have been devastated, and yet somehow we still keep showing up,” Kelley said through tears during public comment. “We should have some enjoyment in our lives, even if it is just the sense that they won’t be able to carry a badge and murder someone else.”
Ashley Monterrosa told Open Vallejo that the POST meeting brought together Vallejo families impacted by police violence who had not seen each other in some time.
“We have to keep the momentum,” she said. “We are a part of this club that no one wants to be a part of, so today was another reminder to continue to embrace each other because we are part of a bigger family now.”
Sullivan said the decertification of these nine officers would “start a lot of healing,” but the families will never recover from the loss of their loved ones.
“I relive my child’s death every day. Every day,” she said.
