Sacramento police officer called a Black man a pejorative term before improperly detaining him

A Sacramento police officer told a Black man he was “being a s---head,” before improperly detaining him in handcuffs, a department investigation found. The officer is still on the force.

The department found Officer Joel McVey acted with discourtesy, conducted an improper search and seizure, displayed conduct unbecoming of an officer, and utilized improper tactics, according to a January letter Police Chief Kathy Lester sent him. The letter, which the department posted to its website Thursday, ordered him to attend additional training.

In September 2022, McVey saw a vehicle parked at the Speed Wash in North Sacramento’s Hagginwood neighborhood, according to the disciplinary documents. He shone a flashlight on the license plate, and when a man got out of the passenger side, McVey asked the man if he was on probation or parole.

“No, I am not,” said the man, 31, whose name is redacted in the police documents. “And please don’t harass me because I did nothing wrong. I just asked you to take the light off my face.”

McVey then asked the man to turn around, the man asked why, and McVey said, “Cause I f------ said so,” then pushed him up against a parked pickup truck, the document states.

“You are being detained because you are being a s--- head,” McVey said.

McVey then threatened to tow the vehicle. The man asked for a supervisor.

Sgt. Daniel Nutley showed up, and told McVey he shouldn’t have detained the man.

“Unless they are fighting, you don’t want to just automatically stow people. You got to have a reason,” Nutley said, according to the documents.

McVey did not immediately return an email seeking comment. During an interview with police investigators, McVey said there had been an arson at the location earlier that day.

“Our sergeant had requested my partner and I to have a high presence, high visibility in the area to deter any criminal activity, and to also maybe contact subjects that look like there’s some reasonable activity going on — suspicious activity going on,” McVey told the investigator.

Detention was improper

McVey should not have detained the man so long, the documents state.

“You did not have legal cause to continue detaining him after you had identified him and conducted records checks,” the records stated. “Calling (the man) a s---head was unprofessional inappropriate and you made a mistake ... You can see how it could’ve been perceived as an unlawful detention”

Tanya Faison, founder of Black Lives Matter Sacramento, said it appears McVey, who is white, acted with racism against the man, who was Black.

“He needs to be fired,” Faison said. “Trainings are performative. There needs to be an example set that when this happens, you’re not going to get away with it. You’re not going to come back and have another chance to do it again. You are not going to treat the citizens of Sacramento like dogs.”

The Office of Public Safety and Accountability recently released an audit that found a “systemic problem” of officers engaging in a pattern of unreasonable stops, searches, and seizures violating community members’ Fourth Amendment right, specifically Black and Latino residents, Faison pointed out.

Lester at the time said she agreed with parts of the audit, which contain helpful recommendations, but disagreed with the finding that racial bias in search and seizure actions is “systemic.”

Other instances of police misconduct

Officers Connor Lawrence and Brandon Lundgren in October 2020 referred to a group of kids as “ghetto” and “retarded” before improperly handcuffing a 14-year-old Black boy, a similar police investigation found. In that instance, the department waited nearly two years after the final disciplinary letters were issued before posting the documents online last month. For the McVey incident, the department waited nearly eight months.

The department posted the documents for both cases on its website after The Sacramento Bee filed a California Public Records Act request for them. The department has to make public its records regarding certain police misconduct due to a state law called SB 1421.

Faison said the department should not be taking that long to post the records, and also should provide video footage of both incidents. Both were reviewed as part of the internal review.

“They should be transparent to show they’re putting in an effort to do better,” Faison said.

McVey has been with the department since he graduated from the academy in 2019, the documents stated. He has no prior law enforcement experience. His total compensation last year was $98,788.