Name: Antioch Police hired former San Francisco cop faulted in fatal 2016 shooting, riled residents hold protest
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Antioch Police hired former San Francisco cop faulted in fatal 2016 shooting, riled residents hold protest

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By and | | Bay Area News GroupThe hiring of an Antioch police officer last year following his resignation as a cop in San Francisco has angered residents because it happened before that officer could be disciplined for actions that led to the fatal shooting of a homeless man more than four years ago.Approximately 200 people protested Michael Mellone’s hiring in what authorities said was a peaceful march from Antioch High to the police station on Tuesday night. It came amid heightened concerns about police violence and racism following the killing of George Floyd last month in Minneapolis.Antioch police are now reviewing Mellone’s hiring in light of recently released documents from San Francisco police under that state’s police transparency law, Senate Bill 1421, a department spokesperson said.Mellone started as an Antioch cop in August, quitting his job across the Bay. He resigned just before internal affairs investigators in San Francisco recommended he be suspended for 10 days for shooting a man with a bean-bag gun that set off a chain of events that ended with Mellone and another officer killing the man moments later.Misconduct findings and discipline in police shootings in California are rare, but Mellone dodged his by switching jobs.Records show investigators found the man, Luís Góngora-Pat, was not a threat to officers when Mellone shot him with the bean bag, an action that short-circuited attempts to deal with the man without using force. Góngora-Pat, was sitting on the ground waving a kitchen knife.It was not immediately clear Thursday how Mellone was hired in Antioch. His hiring in the eastern Contra Costa County city of roughly 115,000 was first reported by the .“Recently, pursuant to state law, the San Francisco Police Department released new records of Officer Mellone’s shooting,” Antioch police Lt. Tara Mendes said in a statement. “This included records that were not completed prior to Officer Mellone being re-hired by the Antioch Police Department. (We) have initiated an administrative examination and review of these documents.“At the time of his hiring, a thorough background investigation was conducted as part of the hiring process. This included a review of all available documents regarding this incident.”In a prepared statement, the president of the union representing Antioch Police officers defended Mellone, writing he had “overwhelming confidence” in the officer.“There is no indication, and certainly no evidence to suggest any wrongdoing on “Mellone’s part in this incident, and the assertions that he left the San Francisco Police Department to avoid being disciplined are untrue and irresponsible,” Steve Aiello, president of the Antioch Police Officer’s Association wrote.Mayor Sean Wright said in an email Thursday that he requested “a thorough investigation of the recently released San Francisco Police Department documents” regarding Mellone. Wright also said he was “moving forward a conversation regarding police reform in our city.”Police Chief Tammany Brooks did not respond to a message on Thursday. Neither did Mellone.What happened in San Fransico was not a secret. This news organization and others in partnership with KQED that San Francisco’s Department of Police Accountability recommended Mellone, and another officer, Sgt. Nathaniel Steger, be disciplined for neglect of duty over Góngora-Pat’s killing.Góngor-Pat was sitting against a wall in the city’s Mission District on April 17, 2016, holding the knife. Records show Mellone and Steger were a safe distance away, with Mellone holding a shotgun that fired bean bags. San Francisco had recently implemented policies requiring officers to attempt to de-escalate potentially violent situations before using deadly force.But when Góngora-Pat dropped the knife and picked it back up, Mellone fired beanbags at him. Góngora-Pat then charged the officers, who both opened fire with their duty weapons, killing him.State records show Mellone has been hired — sometimes for a second time — at four police departments, including a previous stint in Antioch.Mellone began his career in Oakland in 2002, moved to Richmond Police a year later but retired to Oakland in 2005. He then went back to Richmond briefly before joining Antioch Police for the first time in 2006. He then transferred to San Francisco in 2012.&nbsp;&nbsp;We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.Get Morning Report and other email newslettersFollow UsMost PopularClose

By and | | Bay Area News GroupThe hiring of an Antioch police officer last year following his resignation as a cop in San Francisco has angered residents because it happened before that officer could be disciplined for actions that led to the fatal shooting of a homeless man more than four years ago.Approximately 200 people protested Michael Mellone’s hiring in what authorities said was a peaceful march from Antioch High to the police station on Tuesday night. It came amid heightened concerns about police violence and racism following the killing of George Floyd last month in...

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Thomas Peele

Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting. See the latest news from throughout the East Bay, including Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

Antioch Police hired former San Francisco cop faulted in fatal 2016 shooting, riled residents hold protest

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