DOJ names Richmond cops who killed man holding empty sheath
RICHMOND The state Department of Justice has disclosed the names of two Richmond cops who shot and killed a man in February when he allegedly charged at them with an empty sheath The officers identified by the DOJ as Nicholas Remick and Jessica Khalil shot and killed -year-old Jose Mendez-Rios during a standoff on Feb Police announced in a news release that Mendez-Rios charged at officers with a sheath that they mistook for a knife during a standoff that had lasted minutes The DOJ circulated Remick and Khalil s names as part of its statewide protocol reviewing any scenario where the police kill an unarmed person Weeks earlier the Richmond City Attorney s Office responded to a request from this news organization for the officers names by instead releasing a list of names of officers who responded to the case that day including Khalil and Remick The city s police union president Sgt Ben Therriault lambasted the city s decision to muddy the waters by releasing names instead of two and noted the publication caused another matter The city is required by agreement and initiative to notify officers that their names are being disclosed Theriault disclosed No officer is surprised to see the city violated its own negotiated rules The city has not yet distributed video footage of the fatal encounter Concord another Contra Costa city where police shot and killed a man two weeks after Richmond s police shooting has already distributed the names of the officers and video of the event It shows police firing repeatedly at a man who was in the process of stabbing someone repeatedly when the cops arrived Mendez-Rios was killed a little before p m on Feb near the block of Carlson Boulevard in south Richmond A Richmond police news release says officers evidenced up around p m and were attempting to arrest Mendez-Rios on suspicion of violating his probation by committing an act of domestic violence Mendez-Rios allegedly refused to surrender The news release says officers spent the half-hour attempting to de-escalate the situation when he charged at them with an empty sheath that in the dark appeared to be a large knife Remick is the defendant in two ongoing police brutality lawsuits One alleges he was present when two other officers injured a man during an arrest The other says Remick and a second officer Sgt Alexander Caine sent a man named Kwesi Guss to the emergency room with multiple injuries for filming police as they arrested another man for a high-speed chase The city has filed a response to the suit saying the defendants expressly deny any wrongdoing without going into detail In addition to the DOJ review the Contra Costa Sheriff will hold an inquest hearing to review Mendez-Rios death at a to-be-determined date These are routinely held for all police-involved fatalities from shootings to incidents where people die of natural causes at the jail and jurors are demanded to decide the official manner of death It is the first police shooting involving a Richmond officer since when police shot and killed a -year-old man during a raid The decedent Kevin McDonald reportedly brandished an unregistered rifle at the officers who later pulled machine guns explosives and numerous other firearms from the home The officers Caine and Detective Robert Branch were cleared of wrongdoing
