Exclusive: Criminal probe sought against Sacramento officers in 2016 Joseph Mann shooting

On May 25, 2017, 318 days after a knife-wielding Black man named Joseph Mann was shot to death on Del Paso Boulevard by two Sacramento police officers, veteran Officer John Tennis reported to the department’s internal affairs office just after 9 a.m.

There, investigators informed Tennis he was being place on paid administrative leave after 27 years of service, that his peace officer powers were suspended, he could no longer carry a concealed weapon and he would have to turn over Badge No. 733 pending the outcome of an internal affairs probe.

“So, this is because of the Joseph Mann shooting?” Tennis asked in a low, calm voice. “I’m getting fired because of the Joseph Mann shooting?

“I get fired for the Joseph Mann shooting? Okay. Just want to make sure that I know what’s going on.”

Five months later, Tennis was fired.

“Your actions constituted incompetence; inefficiency; inexcusable neglect of duty; willful disobedience of a lawful rule, order or direction; disruption and discredit to your employment and the public service and is cause for disciplinary action,” an Oct. 23, 2017, termination letter signed by Chief Daniel Hahn states.

Tennis’ partner the day of the shooting, Officer Randy Lozoya, was notified that he also could have been fired, but that the issue of discipline was “moot” because Lozoya already had taken disability retirement on April 1, 2017.

The case, which wracked the department and City Hall, led to lawsuits and reforms, including routine release of body-worn videos and training in use of less-lethal weapons and de-escalation techniques.

But the fallout from the Mann shooting is far from over.

Mann family attorney: Shooting was ‘murder’

Earlier this month, Sacramento attorney Mark Merin, who is suing the city on behalf of Mann’s siblings, asked California Attorney General Rob Bonta to open a new investigation into the July 11, 2016, actions of Tennis and Lozoya and “thereafter to file criminal charges against the officers for violation of Joseph Mann’s civil and constitutional rights.”

Merin’s request came after a federal judge ordered the city to hand over internal affairs files, transcripts and voice recordings to Merin as part of his pending lawsuit.

“We received those documents on June 3, 2021, and it is clear why the city fought so hard to prevent the disclosure of the facts in this case,” Merin wrote to Bonta. “Clear and simple: Joseph Mann was murdered by officers Tennis and Lozoya, who have so far escaped prosecution, as the Sacramento County District Attorney quickly found the killings justified and cleared the officers of any wrong-doing.”

Merin labeled Sacramento DA Anne Marie Schubert’s review of the case a “whitewash” that “was not even accepted by the city’s police department which terminated Tennis for his actions, but permitted Lozoya to escape discipline by retiring before the conclusion of its internal affairs investigation.”

Bonta’s office and Schubert, who is running against Bonta for attorney general, declined to comment on Merin’s request. Neither Lozoya nor his attorney could be reached for comment.

Fired cop who shot Mann ‘welcomes’ new probe

But Tennis said he would have no problem with another investigation of the shooting.

“I do welcome, absolutely welcome, an investigation by anyone,” Tennis said in a telephone interview, adding, “I have nothing to hide.”

Tennis, who is still appealing his firing in a process that he says he does not expect to return him to duty, said he believes he and his partner were scapegoats in one of the department’s most controversial shootings, and that neither wanted to shoot Mann, who was struck 14 times after Lozoya and Tennis fired a total of 18 rounds at him.

“It’s just the last thing in the world that either one of us wanted to do,” Tennis said. “We’re in the twilight of our career.

“Most cops in the twilight of their career want to help people and go home.”

But Merin contends the internal affairs files, which provide the most detailed look at the shooting to date and which he provided to The Sacramento Bee, show that the department found the actions that led to Mann’s shooting were not justified.

“Body-worn camera videos record not only the images but the voice recordings of the officers as they attempt twice to strike Joseph Mann with their patrol vehicle and finally gun him down as he is cornered against a fence,” Merin wrote to Bonta. “Additional surveillance videos show that Joseph Mann, whom the officers knew to be mentally ill, did not advance toward the officers before they felled him in a fusillade of bullets.”

Sacramento police initially were called to Del Paso Heights around 9:20 a.m. on July 11, 2016, after residents reported a man with a knife was walking through an apartment complex parking lot at 1125 Lochbrae Road.

Mann, 50, also was reported to have a gun in his hand or waistband, and callers said he was behaving strangely, tossing the knife in the air, performing martial arts moves and saying things like, “I am the law” or “Come and get me.”

The first officers on scene remained in their vehicle, repeatedly ordering Mann through a public address system to drop the knife and warning passersby to get away from the area.

At one point, Mann threw a coffee cup he was carrying at one police vehicle while other officers arrived and tried to contain the situation.

Internal affairs files reveal details of police probe

The internal affairs files say Tennis had become frustrated as he listened to radio traffic about how the incident was being handled.

“You believed that nobody was taking control, that you were frustrated, and thought that the situation had gone on too long,” the department’s termination letter to Tennis states.

Investigators also found that when he and Lozoya arrive on scene Tennis twice tried to hit Mann with his police cruiser, a tactic the department said amounted to “lethal force.”

“First, contrary to your training, when you arrived at the scene, you did not attempt to coordinate a containment or action plan with any of the other officers,” the department’s termination letter says. “The other officers at the scene had already been involved in efforts to contain Mann for several minutes before you arrived.

“Your actions in twice attempting to strike Mann with your police vehicle almost immediately upon arrival, and subsequently, exiting your vehicle and rapidly closing the distance with Mann created an unnecessary exigency that did not exist previously.”

Tennis denies he was trying to run Mann down.

“I didn’t try to run anybody over,” he told The Bee in an interview June 22. “I was trying to knock him off his feet.

“The first time I was going 7 mph, and the second time was 16 mph. It looks bad. The whole thing was bad. It was a very high-stress situation for everyone there, and it was a very fluid situation.”

Officers who shot Mann had been on scene 40 seconds

The department found that once Tennis exited his vehicle and confronted Mann he hesitated for “probably seconds” before shooting Mann.

“When I was approaching him and I saw him stop and, you know, like I said, he’s enraged,” Tennis told internal affairs investigators. “I could see his face. He’s enraged.

“He’s standing there. And he wasn’t just standing there. He was standing there in an aggressive enough stance to like he was ready to go. And when that — as soon as the knife came up, I realized that’s it.”

Internal affairs found that Tennis first tried to strike Man with his cruiser within 10 seconds of arriving, and made the second attempt 12 seconds later. He left his vehicle “and rapidly closed the distance with Mann” to within 15 to 20 feet and firing at him within 40 seconds of arriving at the scene.

Tennis contends that he was running at Mann shouting “come on, come on” in an effort to get him to drop his knife and surrender, and that he was concerned about the safety of pedestrians and patrons of area businesses.

“I was yelling right at him,” Tennis said. “I was hoping I could get some kind of dialogue, because I’m really successful at that.”

He also said he was concerned about the unpredictability of a situation involving a man he thought had a firearm.

“I didn’t know what he was going to do,” Tennis said. “Multiple callers said he had a gun.”

Did suspect have a gun?

Despite citizen reports that Mann had a firearm — and officers’ statements that they saw something in his hand or waistband that could have been a gun — no gun was ever found.

Tennis told The Bee that he still believes there was a firearm.

“They didn’t start to look for the gun for two to three hours into the investigation, really,” he said. “I believe that somebody picked it up.

“Every officer on scene — 100 percent — said they thought he had a gun.”

In addition to the police reforms and Tennis’ firing, the shooting led to the city agreeing in February 2017 to pay $719,000 to Mann’s father, William Mann Sr., to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit.

A second suit filed by Merin on behalf of Mann’s siblings is pending in federal court in Sacramento.

Fired cop faced discipline before

Tennis had faced discipline before the Mann shooting, including a 40-hour suspension for calling in sick “due to being intoxicated and unable to perform your duties” in 2013, documents say, and a 160-hour suspension for trying to strike a fleeing domestic violence suspect with his patrol car in 2016.

He also was the subject of a court order in 2012 forbidding him from carrying ammunition or a weapon in connection with a complaint filed by his former wife.

Tennis now contends that his treatment by the department has resulted in some officers leaving.

“I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘I don’t want to be you,’ and they left,” he said.

Tennis concedes he remains “frustrated” over his firing.

“I really, really did try to do the best job I could,” he said, adding that he sympathizes with the Mann family.

“I’m going through my own personal hell,” he said. “But I’m not going through what they did. I’m up here crying like a baby, but I didn’t lose someone, and they did.”