Shooting of fleeing black man by Sacramento sheriff’s deputies settled for $1.725 million

Sacramento County officials have agreed to pay out more than $1.7 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the May 2017 shooting of Mikel Laney McIntyre by Sacramento sheriff’s deputies.

McIntyre, a 32-year-old black man who was experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot to death during rush hour along Highway 50 after assaulting deputies with large river rocks and then trying to run away.

Deputies fired 28 rounds at him, striking him seven times, six in the back.

John Burris, the attorney for McIntyre’s mother and son, confirmed Thursday that an agreement had been reached to settle the lawsuit for $1.725 million.

“We’re delighted with the settlement,” Burris said. “It was a very challenging case. It was pretty obvious he was mentally impaired, but the shooting was done with vengeance because of his assault on deputies.

“At the time he was killed, he was actually running away and did not pose a danger to the officers. It’s a pretty outrageous situation.”

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Tess Deterding confirmed the county’s lawyers had agreed to settle the case.

“The attorneys in this case reached a settlement, which they found to be reasonable in light of exposure to future costs related to preparation and litigation,” Deterding said.

The county’s then-inspector general, Rick Braziel, reviewed the shooting and concluded in an August 2018 report that deputies used an “excessive, unnecessary” number of rounds that put citizen safety at risk. He also concluded that deputies had options other than deadly force that could have been employed.

That finding led to an angry response from Sheriff Scott Jones, who locked Braziel, a former Sacramento police chief, out of all officies in the agency and the jail, sparking anti-Jones protests aimed at the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.

Braziel’s contract with the county later expired and the inspector general’s post remained vacant for more than a year before supervisors tapped retired Brentwood Police Chief Mark Evenson for the post in December.

Braziel’s report came at a particularly tense time in the region, where six months earlier Sacramento police shot another unarmed black man — Stephon Clark — who ran from them and was gunned down in the backyard of his grandparents’ Meadowview home.

Police later said the officers believed Clark aimed a handgun at them; investigators found he was carrying only a cell phone.

Details on McIntyre shooting

The McIntyre case began when the Antioch resident was visiting relatives in the Rosemont area in the afternoon of May 8, 2017.

He began acting strangely and fire department officials were summoned to the home after he locked himself inside a car. Fire officials determined McIntyre was all right after assessing him and left, but the family called deputies half an hour later to report that he had become violent and they had pepper sprayed him.

Deputies arrived and McIntyre was cooperative, so they eventually left and advised that he should leave the home for the day.

He and his mother, Brigett, later went shopping near Highway 50 and Zinfandel Drive, where he again became violent and began yanking his mother’s hair.

Bystanders called 911 and Deputy Jeff Wright responded, finding McIntyre walking through a parking lot. Wright ordered McIntyre to stop, but he jogged away. Wright caught up to McIntyre and the two became involved in a scuffle during which the deputy fell to the ground.

McIntyre then picked up a rock about the size of a football and threw it at Wright, hitting him in the head. He picked up a second rock but left after witnesses began screaming at him.

Wright was temporarily blinded and dazed, but got up and yelled “stop” several times before firing two shots at him, Braziel’s report said.

The deputy stopped firing to avoid hitting bystanders and McIntyre walked toward Highway 50.

Eventually, other deputies arrived and followed him, and McIntyre threw another rock, this time hitting a sheriff’s K-9.

Deputies opened fire as McIntyre fled, unarmed, along the shoulder of westbound Highway 50.

One deputy fired from a distance of 105 feet, while another fired from 58 feet away, Braziel reported, adding that “an escape was unlikely” and that non-lethal alternatives were available to deputies at that point.

Braziel’s findings led Jones to lock the inspector general, whose job was to review officer-involved shootings, out of all sheriff’s offices and jails.

“The straw that broke the camel’s back, the thing that made me take the extraordinary step of cutting it off immediately, was that report,” Jones said at the time.

Video of the incident

The sheriff also said then that he likely would never publicly release video footage of the shooting. Such videos now must be released under Senate Bill 1421, which took effect Jan. 1, 2019, but the Sheriff’s Office has yet to release its videos and reports on the shooting, saying it has a team still working at redacting and releasing information under the new law.

“SB 1421 went into law after the date of this incident,” said Deterding, the sheriff’s spokeswoman. “Now that litigation has settled, any documents and/or video evidence will be released in accordance with our current practices.”

The California Highway Patrol, which had a helicopter overhead, eventually released redacted video from the scene in response to a public records act request from The Sacramento Bee.

Three months after Braziel issued his report, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert’s office ruled deputies were justified in shooting McIntyre.