SACRAMENTO COP MAY BE PROSECUTED FOR SHOOTING ARMED BLACK MAN

by Bob Walsh

In July of 2016 Joseph Mann, 50, who was at the time armed with a knife, confronted two Stockton P D officers.  Mann ended up doing the dirt dance.  Officer Randy Lozoya ended up going on on disability retirement about one year after the shooting.  Officer John Tennis did not but was placed on normal paid administrative leave after the shooting.  Officer Tennis has since been fired and is apparently about to be prosecuted.

This shooting was in large part responsible for the Sacramento P D purchasing body cameras for it's uniform staff.  A total of 18 rounds were fired at Mann.  Of those 14 hit him.  

A federal judge has ordered the city to turn over various internal documents and material to the Mann family lawyers.  Officer Tennis has said that he has nothing to hide and welcomes any investigation into the matter.  He is still appealing his discharge from the department.  

Mann was walking thru an apartment complex armed with both a knife and a gun the evening he was terminally rehabilitated.  He was tossing the knife in the air and saying "I am the law" while walking around.  The cops attempted twice to do a "Ford takedown" of Mann, with poor results.  (A Ford takedown is bouncing him off the grill of the police vehicle.)  Officer Tennis had received a four week suspension in 2013 for attempting the same move on a fleeing domestic violence suspect.

No gun was ever found, though multiple callers reported Mann had a gun.  The city has since paid $719,000 to Mann's father to settle a civil suit.