Well I saw this payout coming. I am just surprised that it happened absent any legal conclusion ( in court ) regarding the guild or innocence of Officer Hall. But reading the "tea leaves," it seems likely that Hall will ultimately be found guilty of the second killing, since if it were to be viewed as a "good shoot," the County wouldn't be opening our wallet so soon. Recapping, thanks to Officer Hall's "exercising the use of his firearm" we now have the citizens of Contra Costa County on the hook for $9.4 million, we have two evidently mentally-challenged (but not criminal) people who have lost their lives, and we have to house Hall for six years (so far). And yet no one is being disciplined for allowing Hall to take the second individual's life.

Agree wholeheartedly with Paul’s comments.

Also, so very heartbreaking for his family. Please be aware when commenting that he has family that is grieving! Be kind!!!

The Wilson family deserved this money and Officer Hall deserved his jail time for his other unjustified killing. Justice will be served in this one as well. The county would be best served by replacing Sheriff Livingston with someone who can train its officers to serve their community

California Penal Code 850(a)(d)

A peace officer who makes or attempts to make an arrest need not retreat or desist from their efforts by reason of the resistance or threatened resistance of the person being arrested. A peace officer shall not be deemed an aggressor or lose the right to self-defense by the use of objectively reasonable force.

Officer Hall was dispatched to an incident whereby the suspect was alleged to have thrown rocks from a freeway overpass at moving cars on north bound I680.

Officer Hall made contact with the suspect and attempted to use voice commands in his effort to de-escalate the situation. As Officer Hall approached the suspect, the suspect turned towards Officer Hall and displayed a knife.

Officer Hall removed his service weapon and gave the suspect clear verbal commands to drop the knife. The suspect refused to drop the knife and took a step towards the Officer. Officer Hall discharged his weapon at the suspect. The suspect succumbed to his wounds.

In the United States, homicide by knives or cutting instruments is second only to firearms.

The incident is unfortunate for all people involved: suspect, police, family, and friends.

But to understand how quickly a situation can get out of hand when a suspect uses a knife, watch the video of a recent knife attack inside the New York Museum of Modern Art.

Web Link

This guy is throwing rocks from the overpass at cars below, which could have seriously injured or killed innocent people. Witnesses alertly call the police, and Officer Hall arrives at the scene. Per the released body cam, this guy refuses the orders from Officer Hall, and instead pulls out a knife and aggressively moves toward Officer Hall. Officer Hall shoots one bullet at the guy coming at him with a knife, and then immediately calls for an ambulance. Those are the facts of this case. A clean, text book example of self defense by the Officer.
Attorney Burris and this guy's father are now profiting to the tune of $4.5 million dollars because of a heat of the moment judgment call Officer Hall made on a prior case in which he made a wrong decision. He did not make a wrong decision on this particular case. Attorney Burris and this guy's father argue that he should have done something different, that this guy was mentally ill. Does the guy being mentally ill make the rocks hitting cars below less dangerous? Does the guy being mentally ill make the knife less dangerous when stabbing Officer Hall? In fact, if he truly was mentally ill(there is no evidence of this yet), he would be less likely to be negotiated by words by the Officer into putting down the knife, and less likely to be persuaded by calm, logical analytic reason into surrendering.
Officer Hall may have made a wrong decision in the heat of the moment on the other case, but not on this case. Would we be hearing from this guy's dad and Attorney Burris if this guy had killed innocent people with those rocks? Would we be hearing from this guy's dad and Attorney Burris if this guy had killed someone with that knife? No, we are hearing from this guy's dad and Attorney Burris because of the big payout on this case.

There needs to be accountability - Chief of Danville Police should be facing consequences for such poor manegment.

I am humored by the people saying Tyrell Wilson “moved aggressively “ towards ex Officer Hall. Clearly they have never seen or have forgotten the video. Watch the video and stop rewriting history

"H" and "Removed" are echoing what I've been saying, only they're putting in the names. Clearly, Sheriff Livingston and our Chief of Police Lt. Allan Shields need to be replaced. It has been three years since the killing of Arboleda, and neither of these men have stepped up and taken responsibility for Officer Hall's actions. Seemingly, they are hoping that this will blow over and that they can go on without being held to account. So long as Danville 'contracts' with the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office to "run" our PD we will have to contend with whomever Livingston decides to put in as our chief. And we've had some doozies. Anyone remember Christine Dean, whom the sheriff moved from the County Jail to become Danville's second chief. She was a train wreck! It seems to me that, like our neighboring city San Ramon, we should be looking into establishing our own PD. As it is, we have no control over who gets to be a police officer here, and whose rules are followed in our policing. Being a cop today is a tough job, we deserve the best that can be enlisted to serve us.

@ Removed

You left out the fact that the suspect had a knife.

Where was Mr Wilsons family while he was homeless?
It’s always terrible to lose a life, but to award the family that basically abandoned him is abhorrent.
Danville has an excellent police department and to say otherwise is grossly misguided. If your unhappy living here, please find a place that’s more fitting to your belief’s.

If Mr. Hall is cleared of wrongdoing regarding this case, the County Board of Supervisors will have to answer for the large sum of money they awarded the deceased suspect's family.

Sadly, politics has not only infected our criminal courts, but the civil process as well. I suspect the "tea leaves" Paul Clark orated about appears to be the case.

BTW Paul, a mentally challenged person can be just as big a threat - if not more in many cases - as an assailant without mental health issues.

Rocks and knives can kill. And the police shouldn't have to continue to deal with the mentally ill, feel threatened and end up in a position where us taxpayers are on the hook for millions of dollars. And a police officer goes to prison.

Sounds like JJ is unhappy here and sounds like JJ doesn’t understand the challenge of dealing with a mentally ill loved one. How does he know his family abandoned him. If he read the news story he had a supportive family who tried a lot to help him. As I mentioned earlier read the story and watch the video. You will realize this was not a self defense situation for ex officer Hall and he had tons of training on how to defuse this. And you will also learn Tyrell Wilson had a family who cared about him and were trying to help.

@Malcolm Hex - I'll repeat the question posed earlier. Have you seen the video of the incident? There was a substantial distance in between the officer and the victim. There was zero reason that this needed to result in the victim losing his life.

@CK

I have watched the video several times. Clean shoot. However, your claim that there was substantial distance between the suspect and the officer is not true - unless you feel ten feet is a safe distance - which is not when confronted by someone with a knife. More importantly, how would you have handled that situation? I am willing to bet that you have absolutely no idea how quickly a person with a knife can close on someone, unless of course you have had that unfortunate encounter. BTW, body cam footage showed that at one point the officer was less than ten feet away from the suspect.

Unfortunately, you and Removed, keep leaving out the fact that the suspect had a knife - and displayed the knife before the officer removed his duty weapon from his holster. At no time did the officer remove his firearm prior to the when the suspect took out his knife. As I stated in a post above, people killed in homicides by knife is second only to homicides by firearm.

@Removed

Removed stated that the situation the officer found himself in is not considered self-defense. Really? What would you call it? The officer had a duty to engage the suspect (it’s what the Penal Code allows police to do). He did. And when he did, the suspect took out his knife. You don’t consider that a threat? Removed might also want to listen carefully to the audio whereby the suspect refused to follow the officer’s verbal instructions.


.

@CK

I have watched the video several times. Clean shoot. However, your claim that there was substantial distance between the suspect and the officer is not true - unless you feel ten feet is a safe distance - which is not when confronted by someone with a knife. More importantly, how would you have handled that situation? I am willing to bet that you have absolutely no idea how quickly a person with a knife can close on someone, unless of course you have had that unfortunate encounter. BTW, body cam footage showed that at one point the officer was less than ten feet away from the suspect.

Unfortunately, you and Removed, keep leaving out the fact that the suspect had a knife - and displayed the knife before the officer removed his duty weapon from his holster. At no time did the officer remove his firearm prior to the when the suspect took out his knife. As I stated in a post above, people killed in homicides by knife is second only to homicides by firearm.

@Removed

Removed stated that the situation the officer found himself in is not considered self-defense. Really? What would you call it? The officer had a duty to engage the suspect (it’s what the Penal Code allows police to do). He did. And when he did, the suspect took out his knife. You don’t consider that a threat? Removed might also want to listen carefully to the audio whereby the suspect refused to follow the officer’s verbal instructions.


.

Jennifer said:

“Rocks and knives can kill. And the police shouldn't have to continue to deal with the mentally ill…” Really? Then who is supposed to deal with a mentally I’ll person who is armed? You going to send an unarmed mental health worker to do the job?

Riding the waves of this “woke” BS is going to make police second guess themselves. Not a good idea while having to protect and serve, Jennifer. But you wouldn’t know that because you have have never been put in a position to take a life, hopefully never will. Furthermore, you think people with mental health disorders should be treated differently when armed with a weapon?

Crimes involving homeless people tend to make up a larger share of violent crime. About 11% of violent crime in the city of L.A. involved a homeless person in 2018, 13% in 2019, 15% in 2020 and so far in 2021 (LAPD stats). Mix in the homeless with mental health conditions and you get the idea.

A threat is a threat when having to deal with an armed suspect; or any suspect that is using the following: a car, knife, rifle, hammer, axe, etc. To do harm to is to do harm. Everyone has a right to defend themselves.