SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ Sacramento is hiring a former federal civil rights prosecutor to review two fatal officer-involved shootings that occurred this year, according to an email obtained Friday by The Sacramento Bee.
The consultant, Michael Gennaco, will review the July 11 shooting of Joseph Mann, a mentally ill homeless man who was shot 14 times by two officers during a frenetic one-minute encounter in which the officers first attempted to hit Mann with their vehicle. Mann was acting erratically and had a knife before the deadly confrontation, according to police and witnesses.
Gennaco will also examine the April 8 shooting of Dazion Flenaugh. Flenaugh was a homeless bipolar man who led police on an extensive chase after becoming agitated and fleeing from the back seat of a police cruiser. Flenaugh armed himself with a pick ax, then discarded it for two kitchen knives before being shot by three police officers on a South Sacramento street.
Both cases have drawn scrutiny in recent months as people nationwide have raised questions about how law enforcement uses deadly force, particularly with African-Americans. Community leaders have used the two incidents as examples in their call for greater transparency, accountability and a greater emphasis on non-lethal tactics in the Sacramento Police Department.
In the Mann case, an attorney for the officers said they acted appropriately and used force to protect the public from harm.
An email to unidentified recipients from City Manager John Shirey said that Gennaco would deliver "a public report of findings and any recommendations for reform."
Gennaco said his independent review, which is expected to start in early November once a contract is finalized, is "intended to take a look at the Police Department through using these two incidents sort of as pointers with regards to how deadly force incidents are reviewed, the policies that guide officers in regards to deadly force, training and any other issues that become evident."
The review will not "duplicate the criminal investigation" but will examine both the actions of the individual officers involved in the shootings as well as larger tactical and procedural policies in the department as a whole, he said.
Gennaco said that in examining the actions of the officers who fired shots, his examination would be "broader than the district attorney" review focused on the legality of officers' actions at the moment shots were fired.
"We will look at the decision-making that predates the decision to fire," said Gennaco. "We will also be looking at the department's response."
Gennaco has conducted similar reviews of police departments throughout the country. In 2016, he has reviewed use-of-force cases at the Oxnard Police Department, King County Sheriff's Department and Denver Sheriff's Department, according to a resume attached to Shirey's email. It also lists Gennaco as an ongoing consultant with the Anaheim, Inglewood and Pasadena police departments in Southern California.
