Open Vallejo has won the June Sidney Award from the Sidney Hillman Foundation for its investigation into the in-custody death of Darryl Mefferd, which the city of Vallejo kept secret for nearly a decade.
The foundation recognized reporter Anna Bauman and Open Vallejo for “tenaciously peeling back layers of official secrecy” to expose how Mefferd’s decision to seek help led to his likely preventable death.
The Sidney Hillman Foundation honors investigative journalism in service of the common good. The Sidney Award is given monthly in recognition of journalism published the previous month. This month’s judges were Jamelle Bouie, Maria Carrillo, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alix Freedman, Harold Meyerson, Katrina vanden Heuvel and Lindsay Beyerstein.
“Bauman doggedly pursued justice for Darryl Mefferd,” Beyerstein said. “Both Bauman and Open Vallejo are to be commended for investing in a multi-year investigation in pursuit of the truth — especially at a time when local news outlets are under-resourced.”
Open Vallejo joins an array of news organizations across the country that have been recognized by the foundation for their deep reporting, including the New York Times, Reuters, Mother Jones, Reveal, ProPublica, and The New Yorker.
An Open Vallejo investigation published last June revealed that Vallejo police officer Jeremy Callinan held Mefferd facedown until he stopped breathing in December 2016, then delayed calling for medical help. The Solano County Coroner’s Office ruled Mefferd’s death a drug overdose, allowing local officials to cover up the incident for nearly a decade. But experts who reviewed the case told Open Vallejo that they would have likely ruled his death a homicide.
Following that investigation, three other agencies — the California Department of Justice, Fairfield Police Department, and Solano County Sheriff’s Office — released records in their possession. After Open Vallejo sued the local district attorney’s office, that agency also disclosed its case file, including Callinan’s body camera footage.
The footage obtained by Open Vallejo revealed Mefferd’s last words: “I can’t breathe. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I can’t breathe.”
Mefferd’s last words echoed those of many others who died during police restraint, including the high-profile cases of George Floyd, whose murder in 2020 by Minneapolis police sparked nationwide demonstrations, and Eric Garner, who died in 2014 when a New York City police officer placed him in a chokehold.
The newly disclosed records include evidence that the city of Vallejo continues to withhold from the public. Other records, including hospital surveillance footage of Mefferd at Sutter Solano Medical Center, remain undisclosed by any party.
Open Vallejo continues to seek the additional records from Vallejo in an ongoing public records lawsuit filed against the city in September 2021.
