Police consultant, David Blake, wrote a 51 page report reviewing the shooting of Willie McCoy.
What We Know:
- In April, we reported on the shooting of 20 year California rapper, Willie McCoy, by six Vallejo police officers. After reviewing the body cam footage and reviewing the reports, David Blake determined that the officers’ use of force was “reasonable”. As a retired officer, Blake determined this “based upon [his] training and experiences as a range instructor as well as through applied human factors psychology”.
- According to Blake’s report, the officers felt “scared” and “fearful”. Even though the officers only waited 3.5 seconds before shooting, Blake states that, “officers are not required to wait until a weapon is pointed at them to take the necessary steps to save their own lives”.
- Blake’s report is separate from the investigation being conducted by the Solano County District Attorney’s Office.
- According to Melissa Nold, the McCoy family’s attorney, Blake was $8000 by the Vallejo Police Department to review the officers’ use of force. He was also previously hired by the Sacramento Police Department to investigate the officer shooting of Stephon Clark in 2018.
- Nold’s released a statement regarding Blake’s report. She feels the report “continues the flawed belief that officers should be able to act on their irrational fear and unlawfully kill people”.
David Blake has not released any additional comments regarding his report.
