City of Vallejo to pay family of man killed by police officer $2.8 million

The City of Vallejo has now paid $14.9 million in settlements in 24 civil rights lawsuits for incidents since Jan. 1, 2012.

The family of Angel Ramos on Wednesday became the latest family to settle with the City of Vallejo over a wrongful death case. The total this time is $2.8 million.

The civil rights and wrongful death case was against Vallejo as well as Vallejo Police Officer Zach Jacobsen, who killed Ramos on Jan. 23, 2017.

The City of Vallejo has now paid $14.9 million in settlements in 24 civil rights lawsuits for incidents since Jan. 1, 2012.

“There will never be a dollar amount high enough to measure the value of Angel’s life and what our family lost,” Angel’s sister Antoinette Saddler said in a news release. “We have experienced pain, terror and anxiety that no words can ever explain, and no family should ever have to experience.”

Ramos’ attorney, Melissa Nold, told the Times-Herald that it’s not necessarily a day of celebration or congratulations. She said she is “glad the family won’t have to spend another 10 years in court.”

“Angel’s family was still looking at another 7-10 years of litigation and frivolous appeals to resolve their case, so they have decided to settle the case now and begin their healing,” said Nold. “The 1-year statute of limitations for terminating Officer Zach Jacobsen begins as soon as our civil case is formally dismissed, so the City of Vallejo is now on notice that the community demands his immediate termination.”

Ramos’ mother, Annice Evans, agreed with Nold.

“This blood money will not make us go away and we will continue to demand the termination and prosecution of Jacobsen and all of the badge benders,” said Evans.

In the early morning hours of Jan. 23, 2017, Jacobsen and his partner, Matt Samida, arrived near Sacramento and Buckles streets after responding to a 9-1-1 call from a neighbor. The officers located the site of the disturbance at the 1700 block of Sacramento Street.

Jacobsen says he observed a fight taking place on the second-story balcony. According to a report by the officers, Jacobsen began shouting at the duo fighting to stop, but to no avail. According to reports, that’s when Ramos was seen running onto the balcony and making stabbing motions.

Jacobsen told investigators he “thought the only thing I could do to save this guy’s life was to shoot the man who was trying to stab him.”

An autopsy revealed that Jacobsen shot Ramos from the first floor and that Ramos was shot at the base of his neck, and three times in the chest. At the time of his death, Ramos had a blood alcohol level of .26 — just over three times the legal limit.

Although Jacobsen claims Ramos had a knife, the family of Ramos as well as the other person in the fight have said that Ramos wasn’t armed. A knife at the scene was never found, but Ramos’ DNA was found on knives in the kitchen.

“They found DNA of Ramos on his knives, but this was his house, this is where he lives,” Nold said in December. “Almost everyone has DNA on their knives at home but most aren’t killers. The person Ramos was fighting says there was no knife involved. Sure, there was a fight with open fists — and maybe that’s assault — but there was no reason to use the type of force that Jacobsen used.”

Five years later, Nold and the family are still upset about the original press release by sent by the Vallejo Police Department the night of Angel Ramos’ death, stating: “Officers arrived on scene two minutes later and encountered two subjects involved in a physical fight outside the residence. One of the subjects, a 21-year-old man from Vallejo, was observed attacking a victim who was down on his back. The 21-year-old male was holding a knife and presented himself as an immediate and lethal threat to the victim down on his back.”

This, says Nold, “was patently untrue and calculated to conceal the truth. To date, the City of Vallejo has never issued a retraction of their fabrication that Angel was ‘holding a knife’ when he was shot.”

“After Angel was killed, officers would drive by my mom’s house and try to intimidate us into silence, but we would not stop fighting for the truth to come out,”  Saddler said.  “The City’s employees lied to people in the community and tried to convince them we were crazy, because we would not be silenced, but we knew the truth would come out that Angel was unarmed when Jacobsen shot him.”

The settlement comes about five months after the City of Vallejo’s appeal on their summary judgment motion loss for the case of Angel Ramos was deemed frivolous. That came about half a year after the family of Ramos won a summary judgment motion in the civil case that began nearly three years before that.

A board of review convened by the Vallejo Police Department cleared Jacobsen of any wrongdoing, 15 months after the shooting. The board determined in April 2018 that the officer used reasonable force when he shot Ramos. The board also said, however, that Jacobsen should have activated his body-worn camera.

However, the review board also concluded the officers on scene failed “to fully occupy and control the balcony (resulting) in officers queuing on the stairs, presenting a ‘fatal funnel’ due to the lack of cover” after the shooting. Since the night of Angel’s death, family members have also been upset at Jacobsen’s description of Ramos during the fight. Jacobsen claimed that Ramos — a man of Latin descent who was wearing boxer shorts — was a Black man wearing blue jeans.

In December, Judge Troy L. Nunley said that he found sufficient evidence, and denied several claims filed by the City of Vallejo, including a motion for summary judgment.