SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – An attorney representing two Sacramento, California, police officers said that they faced a “terrifying situation” with a mentally disturbed man on drugs and acted reasonably when they made a split-second decision to shoot the knife-wielding man in July.
Legal experts, meanwhile, said a dashboard camera recording of the two officers discussing hitting Joseph Mann with their police car before appearing to try to run him down does not make it more likely that they will face criminal charges in the shooting.
Officers John Tennis and Randy Lozoya were trying to knock down the 50-year-old black man with their patrol car, not kill him, attorney Judith Odbert said in a lengthy written statement Tuesday.
The officers can be heard on the recording saying, “I’m gonna hit him” and “OK, go for it” before appearing to drive their cruiser twice at Mann, who managed to scramble out of its way both times. The officers then stopped the cruiser, got out and pursued Mann on foot.
Odbert said the officers hoped “to take the subject off his feet to prevent the need for any other force to be deployed,” the statement said.