Family of man fatally shot by Modesto police files lawsuit; videos of incident released

The Modesto Police Department and an attorney for a man who was fatally shot by an officer earlier this month both released videos of the incident on Tuesday.

The incident took place the evening of July 14 on Entrada Way after 30-year-old Paul Chavez Jr. came home intoxicated and his wife, Brittoni Estrella, asked him to leave, according to a civil complaint.

Estrella and the couple’s three children have filed a federal lawsuit claiming wrongful death, excessive force and other civil rights violations.

Her father, Josh Clutter, called police, and Chavez walked to the front yard of a neighbor’s house, where he sat down on the front lawn. He was talking to himself and wandering back and forth when officers arrived, according to a press release from the plaintiffs’ attorney, John Burris.

According to the complaint, Chavez was holding a tow hitch in his hand but never threatened officers with it.

A cell phone video clip of the incident provided by Burris shows the shooting but not what happened leading up to it. In the video, Chavez takes a few steps toward two officers, one with a firearm drawn the other with a Taser. The Taser is deployed moments before two shots are fired, according to the complaint.

“One bullet struck and passed through Mr. Chavez’s upper left arm, then continued and struck the left side of his upper torso, and exited the right front of his upper chest,” the complaint reads. “The Taser continued to be activated and could be heard.”

Chavez can be seen turning away from the officers, looking down at and touching the blood seeping from the wound in his torso before he staggers away from them and collapses.

“The callousness displayed by both Defendants throughout the incident shocks any rational person’s conscience,” the lawsuit reads.

Estrella can be heard in the video screaming and crying at the realization her husband was shot.

Chavez was taken to a Memorial Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.

The couple have three boys, who according to a GoFundMe page for the family are ages 5, 7 and 8.

Burris and Chavez’s family are calling for the officer who fired to be prosecuted for murder or manslaughter.

He said the officers had plenty of room to safely move away from Chavez and deescalate the situation but instead shot him in a matter of seconds.

Modesto police are aware of the lawsuit and on Tuesday afternoon released a “critical incident community briefing” video on Facebook. It includes an initial 911 call in which a man says, “There’s a drunk man at my door, threatening my life.” The caller identifies the man as his son-in-law, Paul Chavez, and says, “You guys picked him up yesterday in front of my house.”

The caller told the dispatcher that Chavez had no weapons but was ripping off the screen door. He says he is going to get a gun and asks if he can shoot Chavez should he enter the father-in-law’s home. He later says Chavez had picked up a trailer hitch and went to a neighboring home. “So he has a weapon. ... He’s looking for a fight.”

The MPD video also includes body camera video of the incident Department. Chief Brandon Gillespie says the footage is from officers Sam Muncy, a nine-year veteran of the department, and Sergio Valencia, a four-year veteran.

In the video, when the officers encounter Chavez, he is carrying the hitch and they tell him several times to put it down or he will be Tased. He is Tased by Valencia and immediately pulls out the prongs as the officers continue to tell him to put it down, to which he can be heard replying, “No.”

The firing of the Taser comes 15 seconds after Chavez is told to drop the hitch. The shooting, by Muncy, follows about six seconds later.

Chavez remains standing for approximately 15 seconds and takes several steps toward the house before falling into bushes.

After the body cam footage, Gillespie says the California Department of Justice responded the night of the incident to assess whether the trailer hitch carried by Chavez constituted a deadly weapon given the circumstances.

The DOJ determined that it did and thus the incident did not qualify for its review.

Both officers involved have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure, the chief says.

Three independent investigations of the incident are being conducted, he said. The Police Department is doing both a criminal and an administrative investigation, and the District Attorney’s Office is conducting a review.

Muncy and a fellow officer were involved in a January 2017 fatal shooting. In December 2018, prosecutors with the District Attorney’s Office determined the officers had no choice but to fire their guns at Spencer Herckt after he hit one of them in the head with a glass “bong” during a confrontation.