‘I’m Going To Hit Him’: Dash-Cam Video Shows Officers Tried To Run Over Man Before Shooting Him 14 Times

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“(Expletive) this guy,” the officer says before aiming his police cruiser at the mentally ill homeless man that he and his partner had been sent out to confront. “I”m going to hit him.”

“Okay, go for it. Go for it,” his partner responds, his voice recorded on the Sacramento police cruiser’s dash cam.

Twice, the man dodges their accelerating cruiser. In the second attempt, he leaps into a median, barely avoiding the vehicle.

But Joseph Mann, 51, could not escape the volley of bullets that followed moments later.

Mann died in the street shortly after that July 11 shooting. Mann’s family has accused officers Randy Lozoya and John Tennis of escalating the situation and showing no regard for his life, even before they jumped out of the car, fired 18 bullets and shot Mann 14 times.

His family says the video, the audio of which was enhanced by the Sacramento Bee and published Friday, is damning.

“They are officers that shouldn’t be in uniform,” Robert Mann, Joseph Mann’s brother, told the newspaper. “If this is their state of mind when they go to work, this doesn’t serve anyone well.”

Lozoya and Tennis have been placed on desk duty. Mann’s family has filed a federal lawsuit and a claim against the city, which they plan to update to include the attempts to hit Mann with the car, the newspaper reported.

Police released the dash-cam video two weeks ago, after resisting for two months following the fatal confrontation.

On July 11, they were called to a brightly lit street in California’s capital by neighbors who reported a man standing in the street, waving a knife.

That was Joseph Mann, who was in the midst of a mental health crisis, according to court documents filed by his family. They say he was “doing karate moves and zigzagging back and forth across the street as he tried to walk away from the Officers.”

Mann also had methamphetamine in his system, according to police. And he wasn’t cooperating with the officers who arrived.

A lawsuit filed by Mann’s family said he was “displaying obvious signs of mental distress.” It faults the department for not trying to de-escalate the situation.

“Inexplicably, the Officers failed to contact any properly trained mental health counselors or make any attempt to use less than lethal force and ignored the established police protocols to make attempts to de-escalate the situation,” the lawsuit said.

“Instead, Officers left their (positions) of safety, cornered Mr. Mann against a (fence/wall) and opened fire on him.”

The shooting happened as officers across the nation have been embroiled in a debate about whether they are too quick to use lethal force, especially against minorities. Police have killed 719 people so far this year, according to a Washington Post examination of fatal force. Like Mann, approximately 1 in 4 of those killed were reported to have some form of mental illness.

A few days before Mann was shot to death, a gunman opened fire on police officers at a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, killing five and increasing tensions between police and the communities they serve.

Mann’s shooting sparked protests in Sacramento as residents demanded the release of the dash-cam videos.

For months, police claimed the videos were not public record because they were part of the investigative file. But two weeks ago, amid mounting public and political pressure, officials relented, releasing video from three dashboard cameras and one from a nearby business.

The most incendiary one has been the video shot through the windshield of Lozoya and Tennis’s police cruiser.

It shows the series of close calls as the officers tried to hit Mann. After the second attempt, the vehicle is parked and two officers can be seen running in Mann’s direction. Then, shots are fired.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post · Cleve R. Wootson Jr. 

{Matzav.com}


9 COMMENTS

  1. So the crazy guy was standing on the street waving a knife, no people on the street nearby: nobody in the immediate danger. These cops were present in the safety of their car. They could have waited for the situation to deescalate, while being ready to step in if the situation got immediately dangerous. Yet, the cops choose to use the deadly force even though there clearly wasn’t an immediate danger to anyone. If you or I did it, we’d be prosecuted for murder. Let these cops receive the same treatment by the DA as would any other citizen. We are not a civilized society if some animals are more equal than others.

    • TRIPLE OF TRIPLE OF TRIPLE DITTOES!!!!!!!!

      According to the recording on THEIR OWN DASH CAM VIDEO, these two police guys did full scale pre-meditated murder!!!!!!!! THEY MUST BE PUT TO DEATH!! NO LESS!!!!!!!!

    • You know, I saw some video from another country one time, same situation a man with a knife. They watched him until 5 officers showd up in riot gear with shields. The five guys circled the guy closed in on him and boxed him in to where he could no.t move, took him tomthe ground, cuffed him up and took him to the hospital to get the help he needed. Our system is so broken, from the law enforcement all the way down to the mental health that don’t / won’t take the time to deal with the poor because they can’t pay.. Being a cop is a VERY FRUSTRATING job and like I said the system is broken but to fix it, it is very complicated it’s not as easy as just punishing the cops… The police departments, the courts, the mental health systems, the people themselves and the media all have a role to play in this problem….. It’s going to take some major work….the immediate problem……. No one has started the work yet, they just take each incident and deal with it as a singular problem……… All I can say is good luck !!!

      • I don’t care whether or not people would want to be cops, this is unacceptable and I am using a very mild and nice word. The fact that the gentleman is probably no tzadik nor his family likely cares much about him (but they’ll cash the check when the attorneys win the lawsuit) is not relevant. No one deserves this.

  2. Shameful. Both sides. A mentally disturbed person on drugs… Like we have never heard that before. With a knife in the middle of the roadway. Cops over zealous, power is a drug too you know.

    Where was this guy’s family? Now he is dead they want justice? Why didn’t they report his behavior BEFORE he took drugs. Just report the person even if he/she is your family and get them help before this escalated would have been my choice. Yes I have reported family that did wrong, do wrong, and act stupid. We help our family. Oh! Could it be that people take drugs or don’t take their medication correctly are just being who they are? I think the family of this man, and many others owe society an apology for allowing this to be the end result. Justice would be better served if you take responsibility for doing nothing, stand up and do something!!!!!

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