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.”
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:
Every one of those officers involved should have been charged with reckless endangerment at a minimum.
When trying to clear your name, you NEVER start by executing your lawyer’s daughter and her husband.