A text, a call, then shots fired: Family of man killed by Modesto police describes that day
The mother of 29-year-old Trevor Seever is desperate to know why a Modesto police officer fatally shot her unarmed son a few days after Christmas.
“I bought the plot next to him so I could be buried next to him, and until I am laying next to him, I will make sure there is justice for him,” Darlene Ruiz said.
Trevor Seever’s sister, Allison Seever, called 911 late in the morning of Dec. 29 and told a dispatcher her brother had bought a gun the night before and sent a text to their mother saying, “that he’s walking over here and just to watch what happens to us,” according to a video report of the incident released by the Modesto Police Department on Tuesday.
In an interview with The Bee on Wednesday, Darlene Ruiz and Allison Seever as well as Ruiz’s son, Kyle Seever, and husband, Ray Ruiz, made the following assertions: police released an edited version of events to the public, Allison told dispatchers they’d never seen Trevor with a gun, they called 911 to get help for him, and police interviewed them for 45 minutes before telling them he’d died.
The video report also states Seever had recently posted threats against police officers on his Instagram account and police had issued an officer safety bulletin about Seever, which was reissued at the time of the 911 call. The bulletin stated police had had numerous contacts with Seever while under the influence of alcohol and that he has been “violent, argumentative and uncooperative while drunk.”
Officer Joseph Lamantia was alone when he encountered Trevor Seever at the Church of the Brethren on Woodland Avenue, not far from the family home.
Lamantia’s body camera video shows him get out of his vehicle with his gun drawn, then run around to the north side of the church to an open field on the east where he twice yells, “Get on the ground” before firing four rounds at Seever.
It all happens in about 10 seconds. Seever is at the opposite side of the field that includes a walking labyrinth. He can only be seen from a distance for a few seconds before the shots are fired. It’s unclear what Seever was doing before the shots were fired.
Lamantia then runs toward Seever, stopping on the opposite side of the labyrinth from him.
It’s unknown if Seever was struck by any of the first four shots. He appears to be on his knees and quickly puts his hands in the air after the first order by Lamantia to “show me your hands.” Seever’s right arm lowers and raises twice and Lamantia yells the order several more times then fires three additional rounds. Seever then drops to the ground and yells in pain.
No firearm or other weapon was found on Seever.
Use of force experts review video
At The Bee’s request, two use of force experts reviewed the video police released Tuesday. Both said their comments are based on the limited amount of information police have released so far, including the body camera footage that is difficult to follow at times.
One expert said he found the body camera footage troubling and that it raised many questions.
“He should be alert to the (report of the) gun, but the first move should not be to shoot the man, which is what it appears to be,” said Phil Stinson, a professor and criminologist at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and a former police officer. Stinson said it is difficult to determine from the footage, but it appears the man was trying to get away.
Stinson said the officer had other options, including following the man at a safe distance and telling other officers where the man was heading.
Stinson said it is troubling that instead of showing a guardian mentality, the footage showed a warrior mentality by the officer, as though he were a soldier engaging an enemy combatant on the battlefield. He said the officer appeared to be 40 to 50 yards from the man when he opened fire.
“It’s very difficult to say with one video, but it does not appear the officer faced an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or deadly force,” Stinson said.
Another expert said while the optics of shooting look bad, the officer’s actions were reasonable and necessary based on what he knew at the time.
The officer was “more than justified to believe the individual was armed and was going to kill his family,” said Ed Obayashi, a national adviser on use-of-force issues and a deputy sheriff and legal adviser for the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office.
Obayashi said it’s not relevant that Seever did not have a gun. The officer had to respond based on what he believed to be true at the time. Obayashi said if the officer had allowed Seever to escape then he was allowing for him to potentially harm or even kill his family and others.
A new law that began in January 2020 restricts lethal force by an officer to when it is “necessary in defense of human life” as perceived by a “reasonable” officer and based on the “totality of circumstances.” It also emphasizes deescalation as an effective alternative to lethal force.
For more then a century before that police officers could use deadly force based more simply on a “reasonable belief” that an officer or another person is in imminent danger.
“Our office is certainly aware of the new statutes and they will be part of the legal analysis,” said District Attorney’s Office spokesman John Goold. “For now, we are following our usual policy that until that investigation and subsequent review is complete, we will not be making any statements regarding this case.”
Stinson said the video report police released Tuesday suggests police are trying to create a narrative to shape the public’s understanding of the shooting, including that the officer knew about Seever’s social media threats and his past with the police, but the video report does not clearly state that.
He said police need to release all the records — including the entire 911 call and all the dispatch records — to allow for a complete understanding of the fatal shooting.
Shooting still under investigation
Interim Police Chief Brandon Gillespie said Wednesday his department did not release the video report to create a narrative but to provide the public with as much information as it could about an incident of community interest that still is being investigated.
He said the report makes no conclusions on whether the shooting was within department policy and within the law, and he agreed that there are many questions that still need to be answered.
“We don’t have all the facts, but we felt it was important to put out the facts that we do have,” Gillespie said, adding the video report is “not a conclusion but the preliminary information on the facts we now know.”
He said he expects the investigation will be concluded in 30 to 60 days, and the department will release the findings. Gillespie said Lamantia remains on paid administrative leave and said the decision on when to change the officer’s status will be made as the investigation moves forward.
Lamantia could not be reached for comment for this story. This was the fourth time since 2010 that Lamantia has been part of a fatal officer-involved shooting. He’s been on the force for a dozen years.
Darlene Ruiz said her son needed help. “I will have to live and die knowing that we are the ones who called 911, and he’s now gone because of that,” she said.
She said her son was demonized by police when they included with the release of Lamantia’s body camera video information about a post made from her son’s Instagram account in early December that stated “a good cop is a dead cop” and “all I want for Christmas is another dead MPD officer.”
Darlene Ruiz said a detective came to their home and interviewed Trevor Seever about the posts. Seever told the detective a friend got a hold of his phone and made the posts. He was never charged with any crime related to it.
Seever’s family questions whether Lamantia ever saw the officer safety bulletin that was reissued when officers were on their way to make contact with Seever. But his family said it doesn’t matter because he never posed a threat.
“Trevor’s not putting any civilians in danger; he’s not putting any officers in danger; nobody is in danger, so why are there shots being fired?” Kyle Seever said. “That cop just got out (of his car) and started shooting at him. ... That makes no sense to me at all. How you can not identify yourself (or even) identify who you’re shooting.”
Trevor Seever graduated from Davis High School in 2009 and earned a bachelor’s degree in health and science from San Jose State University in 2019. He had worked for a decade as a referee and umpire for high school football, basketball and baseball.
His family described him as quiet, and someone who was always there for special moments in the lives of his family. Allison Seever said he would always give gifts that would incorporate time spent with him like tickets to concerts or sporting events.
Just released from jail
Darlene Ruiz acknowledges her son was not perfect, that he “had his issues with drinking” over the years.
She said he’d just served an 11-day sentence at the Stanislaus County Jail for his second conviction for driving under the influence. Darlene Ruiz said because of COVID-19 precautions, her son was kept in isolation the entire time. She said he had night terrors and barely slept while he was there.
She picked him up from jail the day before he was shot.
That night the family celebrated a belated Christmas, having a dinner of filet mignon and crab and opening gifts. Trevor was happy that night, his family said.
The next day, however, Darlene Ruiz said her son appeared angry when he woke up and left the house. Soon after she said her son texted and told the family to leave the house and to call the police.
“He asked us to leave the house; he came and got out some aggression and knocked some stuff over,” Darlene Ruiz said.
She said she doesn’t know why her son was so angry that morning. “I just think he was probably fighting some demons; I think he was struggling,” she said.
Trevor Seever’s family drove a few blocks from their home to Woodland and Rosemore avenues where they waited to meet with an officer. Allison Seever reported to an officer who had called her that they could see Trevor near the Church of the Brethren.
The family said no officer came to talk to them; they saw a patrol vehicle pass by.
They estimate they were 1,000 feet away when the shots were fired. Ray Ruiz, who was standing outside the vehicle, heard them.
After that, more police vehicles came speeding down the street with lights and sirens on, followed by fire trucks and an ambulance. The family walked to the church where an officer stopped them from getting to Trevor Seever.
“We saw him on the gurney and they said there’s no point in going to the hospital, he’s stable just go home,” Darlene Ruiz said.
Learning her son had died
Officers soon showed up at their house and Darlene gave them permission to search Trevor’s room. Each of them were taken in separate rooms to be interviewed. They were asked questions about Trevor’s mental health, asked if he he’d ever hurt animals, asked if he took anything from the home like a meat thermometer or a garden hose sprayer.
Darlene Ruiz said she was interviewed for 45 minutes before she inquired about her son’s condition and was told he’d died.
“I would have never let them in my house and to go through his stuff had I known they ... killed my son,” Darlene said. “And they knew that, so they withheld that information on purpose to build a case against my son instead of letting us grieve and doing it the honest way.”
Gillespie, the interim police chief, said he does not know all the details of the investigation, but family members’ accounts of how they were treated is not the way his department conducts itself. “Knowing how we operate,” he said, “we’re not there to play games.”
He also expressed his condolences to Seever’s family. “... I understand they are upset,” Gillespie said, “and my condolences go out to them.”
Darlene Ruiz said she wants to see Lamantia fired and charged with killing her son. Black Lives Matter Turlock is planning a protest in Trevor Seever’s name outside the Modesto Police Department on Saturday, and Ruiz said she and her family will attend.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 2:08 PM.
