Modesto police board hears how shootings by officers are handled. And from grieving mother
The police lieutenant in charge of internal affairs briefed Modesto’s new oversight board on how shootings by officers are investigated.
The Thursday night meeting had a tense moment when the mother of Trevor Seever recalled learning of his shooting by an officer in 2020. Darlene Ruiz faulted police for not telling her right away that Seever had died after being shot outside a Woodland Avenue church.
A judge ruled July 21 that Joseph Lamantia would not be tried for voluntary manslaughter. The end of the criminal case came more than three months after the city agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle a civil lawsuit from Seever’s survivors.
Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Carrie Stephens found that Lamantia had a reasonable fear that Seever might be armed. His survivors said he was in a mental health crisis but not dangerous. No gun was found on him after the shooting.
Ruiz commented during Lt. Brian Kleiber’s presentation to the Community Police Review Board on the general process for officer-involved shootings. The one that took her son happened Dec. 29, 2020, on the grounds of the Church of the Brethren.
“A half hour later,” Ruiz said Thursday, “(investigators) showed up to our house and spoke to us for 45 minutes and withheld that information from us that Trevor had passed. Is that standard?”
Police did not comment in detail on the matter because Lamantia is trying to get his job back. The process involves a state commission on police standards and could take up to three years. The officer was fired in March 2021.
“I understand the pain you’re going through,” Kleiber told Ruiz. “... I just can’t go into the specifics.”
Volunteer board advises law firm
The Modesto City Council created the board in May in response to the Seever shooting and other concerns about the department The nine volunteer members advise a law firm hired to monitor how MPD management deals with these issues.
The monthly meetings so far have been mainly about the basics of policing. One laid out the process for complaints against officers. Another explained how MPD is involving social workers and other partners in responding to homeless or mentally ill people.
Kleiber described the process for an officer-involved shooting that results in death or injury. It includes the MPD Policy Manual and state law. Up to four separate investigations could happen:
- MPD Internal Affairs examines whether the use-of-force policy was followed. This can result in an officer being cleared, disciplined or fired.
- The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office decides whether the officer should be prosecuted.
- MPD does a separate investigation of the overall circumstances of the shooting. This can mean charges for a wounded person who might have committed a crime.
- The California Attorney General’s Office does its own probe if an unarmed person was killed.
Other things to be done after a shooting
The process has several other details, some of them kicking in right after a shooting:
- A field supervisor should quickly get a brief overview from an uninvolved officer.
- If the shooting involves multiple officers, they are not to discuss it.
- The officer’s body-worn camera footage should be uploaded right away.
- The officer’s gun goes to the California Department of Justice for examination.
- The police chief and other top managers are notified of the shooting. So are the review board chairperson and law firm, the police union, the chaplain and several other parties.
- An officer who declines to make a statement to Internal Affairs is placed on unpaid leave until further notice.
- If cleared to return to duty, the officer must first meet with the MPD psychologist and spend 40 hours on non-patrol duties.
The board meets at 5 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month on the second story at Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St. At the Oct. 19 meeting, Police Chief Brandon Gillespie will speak about the process for hiring officers. Instructions for taking part over Zoom are at www.modestogov.com.
This story was originally published September 25, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
