Woman shot by Modesto police told father he would ‘watch her die’

A woman fatally shot by three Modesto police officers in 2016 was determined to commit suicide by cop and told her father he would have to “watch her die” if he called the police on her, according to a letter from the District Attorney’s Office.

The letter, to Modesto Police Chief Galen Carroll, called the shooting justified and done by the officers in self-defense.

Kim Jackson’s father called 911 twice in the early morning of Oct. 8, 2016, first because she was drunk and vandalizing his home and again when she returned two hours later armed with multiple knifes.

She hid from officers the first time they arrived, but by the second she was saying “she will make police shoot her,” according to the letter.

Officers Joseph Lamantia and Michael Callahan and Sgt. Alex Bettis “appeared to plan for an attempt to de-escalate the situation by preparing to use less than lethal means,” according to the letter.

Callahan was armed with a Taser, Bettis with a beanbag shotgun and Lamantia with a handgun as they approached the home. When officers spotted Jackson, she was in the front yard and was holding five knives.

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 the letter.

Seconds later, Jackson raised the knives over her head and charged the officers. All three discharged the weapons they had, and she was hit by all three.

An autopsy later revealed Jackson had a blood alcohol level of .22 percent and had a significant amount of methamphetamine in her system.

“Research and police training have shown police officers that a subject armed with a knife can run over twenty feet and stab the officer in the time it would take the officer to draw their gun and fire,” reads the letter, “(Jackson’s) failure to comply with the request to drop the knives and her subsequent actions would clearly raise any reasonable officer’s fear of the situation. Jackson forced the officers to shoot her.”

Lamantia has reportedly been involved in three fatal officer-involved shootings — one in 2010 and the other also in 2016 — in the past seven years. Bettis has been involved in two, both in 2016.

Both also were among the officers involved in a 2016 incident where a man who had been terrorizing homes on Modesto’s Grantland Court died a few days after being subdued and arrested by officers using control holds, beanbag guns and a Taser.

In all of the incidents, the use of force by the officers was deemed justified, according to the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s office.

This story was originally published July 15, 2018 at 3:17 PM.