City In Solano County Sued For Excessive Force, Racial Profiling

SOLANO COUNTY, CA -- A civil rights attorney has sued the City of Vallejo, alleging that police in the municipality engage in racial profiling, excessive force and more.

Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris filed three lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Sacramento Wednesday, Sept. 18 against the city of Vallejo alleging the Vallejo Police Department engages in racial profiling, excessive force and unlawful arrests.

The Vallejo City Attorney's Office did not return a Bay City News Service email and phone call Thursday for comment on the lawsuits.

One suit alleges that police targeted Delon Thurston, a 40-year-old African American woman, and stopped her car as she drove home from work. The officers accused her of stealing her own vehicle in October 2018, Burris said.

Thurston told the officers they made her feel unsafe and she was dragged from her car, thrown on the ground and arrested. A body search by a female police officer made Thurston feel "degraded and violated," Burris said.

Another suit alleges that on Jan. 22, 2019, Vallejo police Officer Ryan McLaughlin violently assaulted Adrian Burrell, a 28-year-old African American man who was video taping McLaughlin from his front porch.

McLaughlin was holding Burrell's cousin Michael Walton at gunpoint before Burrell was assaulted, and Burrell suffered a concussion, according to Burris.

A third lawsuit alleges Deyana Jenkins, a 19-year-old African American woman, was pulled over by officers at gunpoint while driving three other teenage girls this past April. When Jenkins was unable to provide her driver's license, the officers dragged her from the vehicle, threw her on the
ground and used a Taser stun gun on her before she was arrested, Burris said.

"These officers told Deyana and her friends that they mistook them for black men, seemingly admitting that black men in Vallejo have a target on their backs," Burris said.

Deyana's uncle Willie McCoy was fatally shot in a restaurant drive- through lane by six Vallejo police officers two months before the April case, Burris said.

"Not surprisingly, the Solano County District Attorney did not pursue charges against any of these innocent people," Burris said.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.