Body-Cam Footage Released In Vallejo Officer-Involved Shooting

VALLEJO, CA — Vallejo police Friday released video from the body cameras of six officers who fatally shot an armed man who fell asleep inside a car in the drive-through lane of a Taco Bell in February.

"This is our first time releasing video in this fashion and it is our hope that we provided sufficient context for the community to understand the facts of this incident," Capt. John Whitney said in a news release.

"The Vallejo Police Department wants to address the questions that have been raised to help the public digest both the media reports and to facilitate a community dialogue about the facts of this incident. Our hope is that this information helps members of the public separate fact from fiction regarding this incident," Whitney said.

The manager of the restaurant called police around 10:35 p.m. Feb. 9 to report a man was slumped in the driver's seat of his car in the drive-through lane at the Taco Bell at 974 Admiral Callaghan Lane. When officers arrived, they noticed the driver was unresponsive and had a gun in his lap, according to Vallejo police.

Police did not attempt to wake the driver, Willie McCoy, 20, but decided to wait for additional officers to arrive. The video initially shows two officers with their weapons drawn immediately outside the car's driver's window.

When an additional officer arrived, officers planned to quickly open the car door and grab McCoy's gun while another officer covered McCoy.

The door, however was locked, police said.

More officers arrived and a patrol car was positioned in front of McCoy's car. While waiting for a patrol supervisor to arrive and have another patrol car positioned behind the McCoy's car, McCoy moved suddenly and looked at the officers, police said. The officers told McCoy to put his hands up, but McCoy did not comply and moved his hands quickly toward the gun, according to police.

The video shows the officers firing their weapons for about six seconds before someone yells "cease fire." An officer says McCoy is still moving, but four seconds later one says McCoy is unresponsive.

The half-hour video contains audio of the 911 call to a police dispatcher by the Taco Bell manager, a single-camera view of the incident, a six-panel display showing of each of the six officers body cameras in sync and each of the six body cameras' footage individually displayed on a full screen.

The video ends before McCoy is pulled from the car. He died at the scene.

Police said McCoy's fully-loaded, 40-caliber semi-automatic handgun with an inserted extended magazine was reported stolen in Oregon.

Attorney John Burris said McCoy's family is outraged and disgusted with the "videotaped execution of a sleeping 20-year-old African-American man by six Vallejo police officers."

"Nothing in that video warranted those officers shooting Willie McCoy dozens of times," Burris said in a news release on Friday.

"Officers failed to establish a plan of action to safely remove McCoy from the car and violated longstanding officer safety principles," Burris said.

Burris said he doesn't understand why the officers refused to take a position of safety in order to resolve this incident without gunfire.

Burris scheduled a press conference for Friday at his Oakland law office, 7677 Oakport St. Suite 1120.

The city of Vallejo has set up a web page with information regarding the shooting.

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— Bay City News Service