Family of woman killed by Modesto police in 2016 files $10M lawsuit against city
The family of a distraught, intoxicated woman fatally shot by police officers is suing Modesto and its Police Department, alleging excessive force, wrongful death and negligence. The family seeks more than $10 million in damages.
The lawsuit alleges the October 2016 shooting of 52-year-old Kim Jackson, whose mental health and substance abuse issues were well known to police, is part of a pattern of nearly two dozen incidents of unreasonable and excessive force by Modesto officers since 2009.
Jackson was armed with knives when she ran at one of the officers in the street by her parents’ home before he shot her with his handgun. She also was shot with a beanbag shotgun and Taser.
The lawsuit — filed in federal court in March — alleges the sergeant and two officers who attempted to take Jackson into custody did not come up with a plan to do that and acted in a way that worsened the symptoms of her mental illness, including her fear and anxiety.
Jackson had a blood alcohol level of 0.22% and had a significant amount of methamphetamine in her system, according to the Internal Affairs investigation of the shooting.
The lawsuit also claims the Police Department and the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office withheld critical information from Jackson’s family and the public.
That includes that she was shot with what is called a breaching round and not just nonlethal beanbag rounds from a shotgun as authorities reported. Breaching rounds are used to destroy door locks and deadbolts but can be fatal when used against people.
The sergeant believed he had loaded the shotgun with beanbag rounds, but one was a breaching round. The Police Department’s Internal Affairs investigation of the shooting said this was done by mistake.
“It’s one thing to have bad policing and practices, it’s another thing to conceal (information) and hope it goes away,” said Sacramento attorney Mark Merin, who represents Jackson’s family. He said family members would not comment for this story.
A Modesto spokesman said in a statement the city has received the lawsuit and is reviewing it and will respond accordingly. The lawsuit comes after Jackson’s family filed a claim against the city in January, raising the same allegations.
Jackson’s father called 911 twice in the early morning of Oct. 8, 2016, first because she was drunk and vandalizing his Modesto home and again when she returned two hours later armed with knives. She hid from officers the first time they arrived.
Sgt. Alex Bettis and officers Michael Callahan and Joseph Lamantia responded to the second call. Callahan was armed with a Taser, Bettis with the shotgun with what he thought were nonlethal beanbag rounds and Lamantia with a handgun.
She charged while armed with knives
Callahan wanted to take Jackson into custody on a 72-hour mental health hold.
Callahan can be heard on body-camera footage telling Jackson to put the knives down, but she responded “something to the effect of you’re going to have to shoot me,” according to a July 2018 letter from the Stanislaus County DA’s Office to then Police Chief Galen Carroll summarizing its investigation of the shooting.
Seconds later, Jackson raised the knives over her head and charged Lamantia. All three discharged their weapons.
Merin’s office provided The Bee with body camera footage from the three officers. It shows all of the shooting took place in about three seconds. Lamantia repeatedly asked Jackson to back up, and he retreated before shooting her from about a dozen feet away in the street.
The footage shows that after Lamantia shot Jackson once in the chest, she dropped the knives and staggered away from the officers. Lamantia shot her a second time, grazing her forearm. Callahan fired his Taser, striking Jackson in the left wrist, and Bettis fired two rounds from his shotgun, striking her in the back with the breaching round, according to the lawsuit.
Family just learned whole story
The Internal Affairs investigation cites Jackson’s autopsy stating Lamantia’s first shot and Bettis’ breaching round were fatal and Jackson died from blood loss from both gunshots.
The DA’s Office determined the shooting was justified, and the Police Department determined it was within its policy. But the lawsuit states Jackson’s family learned only in November that police and prosecutors had not told the full story about the shooting.
Besides not disclosing the use of the breaching round, the lawsuit alleges authorities did not reveal that Bettis was out of position when he shot Jackson and that he and the two officers did not develop a game plan.
The Internal Affairs investigation raised questions regarding Bettis’ actions. The investigation found while he understood Jackson was a danger, he failed to impart that to the other officers.
“As the supervisor at the scene, Sgt. Bettis used his training and experience to correctly perceive the threat he and his officers were facing,” the investigation states. “... However, none of this was communicated to Officer Callahan or Officer Lamantia, who felt very differently about the situation.”
The investigation also states the sergeant and officers “did not discuss a plan of approach or talk with each other about the use of force options.“
But Bettis told investigators there was a game plan, according to the Internal Affairs investigation. He now works for the DA’s Office. He did not respond to a voicemail or email seeking comment.
Officer fired, charged in another shooting
Lamantia was fired from his job in March after fatally shooting Trevor Seever in December on the grounds of the Church of the Brethren in west Modesto.
While there were reports Seever might have been armed and had made vague threats against his family, he was unarmed. Prosecutors have charged Lamantia with voluntary manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney has said the shooting was justified.
The Jackson lawsuit lists nearly two dozen examples of what it calls unreasonable and excessive force by Modesto officers from 2009 to 2020. It shows Modesto paid out more than $2.75 million in nine of the incidents. This does not include the city’s legal costs to defend itself.
According to the lawsuit, the incidents range from one in 2009 in which an officer broke a girl’s wrist as he handcuffed her (the city paid $495,000 to settle the case) and one in 2011 in which officers entered a home without a warrant and threatened the residents over a civil dispute involving a car (the city paid $120,000) to one in 2015 in which an officer pushed an elderly woman who fell and broke her hip and entered her home without a warrant (the city paid nearly $750,000).
This story was originally published April 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
