Seever settlement highlights need for change in Modesto police culture, training | Opinion

No crystal ball was needed to predict that survivors of Trevor Seever would be awarded a hefty sum in his maddeningly unnecessary death.

The $7.5 million settlement announced Tuesday is an entirely unsurprising result of bad police work. It’s another example of the price paid when an officer needlessly guns down an unarmed person desperately trying to get away.

Remember that Evin Yadegar’s survivors accepted $7 million after the Modesto woman, suffering a mental crisis, was shot and killed in 2017 by a Stanislaus County deputy sheriff while trying to get away from him and others.

Carmen Spencer Mendez’s loved ones were awarded $2.1 million after the 15-year-old (who was armed) was shot and killed while fleeing a Ceres police officer.

Stephon Clark’s family received a combined $4.1 million in two settlements — one for his children, the other for his parents — after the unarmed Sacramento man was shot and killed by police there in 2018.

The list goes on — and will continue as long as nothing changes in the culture and training of law enforcement officers.

In each case, government agencies would not agree to a deal of such magnitude unless they feared that a civil jury could award substantially more if the lawsuit were to proceed to trial. In other words, each agency paid up rather than defend officers’ poor judgment. None was a righteous shooting.

Before each officer began firing, he had an array of possible reactions at his disposal. Each tragically resorted to the most lethal and most final, and people they were sworn to protect ended up in the morgue.

Taxpayers end up footing the bill. Yes, insurance typically covers some of the payout, but who pays insurance premiums? Taxpayers.

Others costs — emotional suffering, and loss of trust in cops — are longer lasting, harder to calculate and surely more damaging.

“I don’t feel like it’ll ever be done, from the perspective of the mother, Darlene (Ruiz),” Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen told Bee editors in a private meeting March 27, after the settlement was reached but before the amount was announced.

“The family will live with this and carry on, but the grief is never done. It just evolves,” the mayor said, in a quiet voice.

Individual accountability on the part of officer is never ensured.

Justin Wall, the deputy who killed Yadegar, was acquitted at trial in San Joaquin County. Former District Attorney Birgit Fladager declined to prosecute Ross Bays, the Ceres officer who shot Mendez in the back. Modesto police fired Joseph Lamantia relatively quickly after he killed Seever, and Lamantia’s preliminary hearing on criminal charges should conclude this month.

Meanwhile, Modesto clings to indications that change is possible.

Zwahlen began promoting police reform almost upon her election three years ago. Other Modesto City Council members got behind the effort, called Forward Together, and expect soon to hire an independent police auditor who will work with a nine-member citizens’ oversight committee. Police Chief Brandon Gillespie appears committed to the process.

It’s a decent start. But much remains to be done.

The working group laying the foundation for Forward Together failed to reach consensus on important department policy changes precisely because of opposition raised by representatives of police or their union.

A long list of disagreements includes additional training to help police avoid racial bias, civil rights training for officers, “know your rights” training for the community, reducing arrests of Latino youth, improving mental health treatment for officers, drug testing for officers after a critical incident, banning on-duty political activity, clarifying standards for use-of-pain compliance, specifically prohibiting carotid holds, requiring officers to call for assistance when they might use lethal force, and requiring that officers stop shooting as soon as possible after they start.

All have merit and must be pursued.

Modesto will know that Forward Together is succeeding only when officers stop seeing people as threats to neutralize rather than brothers and sisters in need.