Modesto police officer fired after fatal shooting wants job back. Here’s who will decide

Former Modesto police officer Joseph Lamantia wants his job back. Lamantia’s fatal shooting of an unarmed man in December 2020 resulted in him being fired and served as a major catalyst in the city’s police reform effort.

The killing of Trevor Seever was Lamantia’s fourth fatal officer-involved shooting since 2010 as a Modesto officer. He was cleared in the three previous ones. Lamantia, 38, started his law enforcement career with Modesto in 2008.

Lamantia has requested an arbitration hearing to get his job back, but an arbitrator has not yet been selected and the hearing has not been scheduled. The decision on whether he returns to the Police Department is months away.

The arbitrator’s decision is final and binding, according to the labor agreement between the city and the Modesto Police Officers Association.

“At the end of the day, the police chief (may) have to put someone back on the force who he knows is a threat,” said Seever’s mother, Darlene Ruiz, about binding arbitration. “... I believe the mayor, the police chief and the City Council support us, but at the end of the day, they don’t have a say. ... It’s a crazy.”

Modesto settled a lawsuit in April for $7.5 million that Ruiz and her former husband had pursued in Seever’s death.

The labor agreement states the city will get a list of seven arbitrators from the California State Mediation & Conciliation Service when a member requests arbitration. (Modesto officers can request arbitration for other disciplinary actions against them, such as a suspension.)

Fresno-based attorney Roger Wilson represents Lamantia. Wilson said he and attorney Geoffrey Spellberg with the Renne Public Law Group, which represents the city, have been working the last few months to select an arbitrator. “I wish I knew,” Wilson said when asked when they will reach a consensus on an arbitrator. “We’re stilling trying.”

Spellberg did not respond to an email seeking an interview but issued this statement: “Mr. Lamantia has exercised his state law right to appeal his termination. The City is responding to that appeal and stands by its termination decision and will see the process through.”

The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training is reviewing Lamantia’s conduct in a separate inquiry. The state agency has had the authority since January 2023 to decertify peace officers for serious misconduct. That would bar them from being hired by any agency in the state that participates in POST, and the vast majority do.

A Police Department spokeswoman has said the department sent Lamantia’s case to the commission in May and it had three years to make a decision. A commission spokeswoman said this week that the case is “being actively investigated.”

Not all police departments have binding arbitration

Wilson said whether arbitration is binding is based on the labor agreement reached between a city and its police officers association. He said some cities use nonbinding arbitration, in which the arbitrator makes a recommendation. The city then decides whether the officer is rehired.

“There are no statewide standards in California for an arbitration process as it relates to former officers looking to return to work at their department,” said Brian R. Marvel, president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, in a statement. “Currently the process varies by locality — with some departments using binding or nonbinding arbitration, while others use methods like civil service review boards and court orders.”

Visalia, for example, does not have binding arbitration. An administrative hearing officer is selected by mutual agreement and issues an advisory decision, according to an email from Diane Davis, the city’s human resources manager. The city manager then makes the final decision.

Lamantia fatally shot Seever on the grounds of the Church of the Brethren on Woodland Avenue on Dec. 29, 2020.

Seever, 29, was running away and unarmed when Lamantia shot him. Lamantia was the first officer on the scene and fired within a few seconds of arriving and before backup arrived.

Seever family members have said they were concerned about his mental state that day when one of them called 911. Seever had texted them that he had purchased a gun and called his mother to tell her that he was coming to the house and they needed to leave and call 911. They left their home and waited at another nearby church.

Lamantia told an Internal Affairs investigator who interviewed him that he believed Seever was intent on killing his family so he had to stop him. Once he got to the Church of the Brethren, he felt Seever was trying to ambush him.

Police Chief Brandon Gillespie fired Lamantia and the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office charged him with voluntary manslaughter in March 2021.

Lamantia had reasonable fear for his safety, judge ruled

Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Carrie Stephens ruled in July at Lamantia’s preliminary hearing that he would not stand trial.

She said Lamantia had a reasonable fear for his safety because Seever’s family had called 911 to report he had purchased a gun. Officers also were aware of past social media posts where Seever said he wanted to see officers die. “The overwhelming evidence presented shows that the situation was stressful, intense and rapidly evolving,” Stephens said, reading aloud from the bench.

Lamantia’s shooting of Seever sparked protests at City Council meetings and in the community. The shooting also helped lead to the creation of a Community Police Review Board and the city hiring an independent police auditor.

Wilson, who also represented Lamantia in his criminal case, said it could take several months to schedule an arbitration hearing once an arbitrator has been selected. He said it could take that long because there are not many arbitrators.

The hearing is closed to the public and could take a week, Wilson said. He said arbitrators reach decisions in 30 to 60 days.

Spellberg — the attorney who represents the city — asked the California State Mediation & Conciliation Service in a September letter for a list of arbitrators with experience involving the police, local government, who are members of the California Bar Association, and live in the “region of the dispute.”

Lamantia had requested arbitration before but that was put on hold while his criminal matter was being resolved.

Wilson said his client loved his job and was good at it. He said his assessment of Lamantia as an officer is based on looking at his performance reviews and talking to about half dozen of his colleagues who served with him on the SWAT team.

“They all seem to think he was a good officer,” Wilson said.