The family of Willie McCoy, inset, shot by police in California, reached a $5 million settlement stemming from a wrongful-death lawsuit. (Screenshots from Bay Area Fox affiliate KTVU)
The family of a 20-year-old rapper asleep in a car in a Taco Bell drive-thru lane in California when six officers fired 55 times into the vehicle, killing him, has reached a $5 million settlement stemming from a wrongful-death lawsuit.
Willie McCoy was shot by officers from the Vallejo Police Department on Feb. 9, 2019, after the department received a 911 call from an assistant manager about a silver Mercedes with tinted windows stopped in the drive-thru at the fast food restaurant in the city of Vallejo, about 40 miles north of San Francisco.
“I think we have revealed so much in this case over the past few years, and this settlement is an acknowledgment that the police acted wrong,” family attorney Melissa Nold told the San Jose Mercury News. “We’re not celebrating, but it is nice to see an acknowledgment of wrongdoing.”
In a statement emailed to Law&Crime, Vallejo city officials said the city council approved the settlement on Tuesday and a formal settlement agreement would be made publicly available when it’s finalized.
“The settlement agreement provides both sides with a certain outcome and avoids the expense of what would likely have been several additional years of litigation,” the statement read. “The settlement includes an agreement by all parties that the settlement does not imply an admission of liability or wrongdoing by the city of Vallejo or any city employee. Regardless of the circumstances, we do want to acknowledge that all loss of life is tragic and continue to offer our sympathy and condolences to the family and friends of Mr. McCoy.”
The fatal shooting of McCoy happened late that night. Authorities said they found McCoy sitting in a car with a gun in his lap at the drive-thru entrance. They called for backup and said they tried to retrieve the gun from his lap “without disturbing him,” but the door was locked, so they tried to secure the car by parking a car in front and behind the driver to pin it in.
When the officers pulled up the second vehicle to pin it in, the driver woke up, and officers ordered him to put his hands up. They said he was not cooperative and reached for his gun, leading to six officers firing 55 rounds in 3.5 seconds.
“They ceased fire as soon as the threat was terminated,” wrote a special prosecutor hired by Solano County to review the case. “Overall, looking at the totality of the circumstances and applying California law, the Officers’ decision to use deadly force was justified.”
An autopsy found that 13 of the 38 shots that hit McCoy were fatal chest wounds.
“The Solano County Coroner had never seen 38 bullets in one human body before he examined Willie McCoy,” Nold posted on X.
Police released body camera video of the shooting, and civil rights attorney John Burris announced legal action.
“How do you justify that many shots? He was shot to pieces,” he said, showing autopsy photos.
He said McCoy wasn’t given a chance to live, that “no dangerous crime of any kind” had been called in. He called the officers’ actions “extraordinarily poor police tactics” that ran counter to saving or protecting life. He said the video showed that McCoy never pointed a gun at anyone.
“It was a firing squad, and I don’t use that term lightly, but when you have that many shots — this young man was shot to pieces — his face, his hair, his upper torso all were subjected to and received huge numbers of shots.”
McCoy’s cousin David Harrison said McCoy was a Bay Area rapper making a name for himself, had recently been on tour, was tired and getting food from “the only game in town” open at that hour — Taco Bell.
“Willie was a sitting duck in that car,” he said. “He was asleep. They didn’t want to give him a chance.”
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