{"id":354720,"date":"2026-06-10T14:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/354720\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T14:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:25:10","slug":"how-a-george-floyd-inspired-california-law-accidentally-weakened-police-accountability-lost-coast-outpost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/354720\/","title":{"rendered":"How a George Floyd-Inspired California Law Accidentally Weakened Police Accountability | Lost Coast Outpost"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Jeanelle Couch holds a photo of her son, David Couch, while standing in Cascade Park in Redding on April 8, 2026. David Couch was killed in a shooting involving a California Highway Patrol officer in front of his home in February 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters \n<\/p>\n

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This story was originally published by CalMatters<\/a>. Sign up<\/a> for their newsletters.<\/p>\n

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In 2020, with the death of George Floyd still dominating the national conversation over police accountability, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law<\/a> taking away responsibility for investigating fatal police shootings from local authorities and putting it in the hands of the state attorney general. <\/p>\n

Lawmakers reasoned that an independent outside agency would bring more credibility<\/a> \u2014 as well as speed and investigative firepower \u2014 to the process while eliminating potential conflicts of interest that can arise when police or local district attorneys have to investigate agencies they work closely with. <\/p>\n

Police accountability advocates enthusiastically endorsed the legislation that authorized the switch. Then-Assemblymember Rob Bonta<\/a> championed it, too. When Bonta became attorney general the following year, he pledged to complete all investigations within 12 months. <\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t come close. The department has yet to close a single investigation within one year.<\/p>\n

In fact, a CalMatters investigation found that Bonta\u2019s office has 13 use-of-force investigations that have exceeded three years or longer \u2013 well past the statute of limitations for many of the crimes an officer or a deputy could conceivably be charged with short of murder. <\/p>\n

SEE ALSO:
\u2022\u00a0A Man Was Killed in Hoopa By Police Over Two Years Ago. Documents Show Snags in the First State Investigation of its Kind in Humboldt County<\/a><\/p>\n

The average fatal shooting investigation takes Bonta\u2019s team nearly two years and five months to complete. Just eight of 41 closed cases took less than two years. <\/p>\n

The delays take away another potential enforcement tool as well: Once a case extends beyond three years, an officer cannot be decertified, meaning they cannot be prevented from working for other law enforcement agencies. <\/p>\n

The time lag leaves families of potential victims waiting for justice and leaves officers in limbo as they wait to be charged or exonerated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my experience, three years is an awful long period of time, especially if you\u2019re starting to come upon statutes of limitations,\u201d said Anne Marie Schubert, the former Sacramento County District Attorney who unsuccessfully ran for attorney general in 2022. <\/p>\n

Schubert said she was surprised to see that the last case closed by the program was on a shooting in 2023. <\/p>\n

\u201cIs it resources?\u201d she asked. \u201cIs it experience? That\u2019s a question I\u2019d want to know.\u201d <\/p>\n

To date, not a single officer has been prosecuted by Bonta\u2019s office, and no officer has been referred for decertification or even discipline after a police shooting investigation. <\/p>\n

Bonta blames the backlog on a lack of funding and other priorities from the Legislature. His predecessor, Xavier Becerra, made the same argument just before the law took effect when he requested twice as much money for the investigations than the Legislature provided. On its first investigation, Justice Department employees complained in internal emails that they were undermanned. <\/p>\n

Bonta\u2019s office also says nothing in the law prevents local authorities from conducting their own parallel investigations. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But the CalMatters investigation found that as a practical matter, local authorities take a hands-off approach once Bonta\u2019s office steps in. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf the case meets the criteria under (the police shooting law) and DOJ confirms they are taking over the investigation, we do not do a parallel criminal investigation of our own or do a criminal investigation of our own after DOJ concludes their investigation,\u201d said Capt. Brian Cole, who oversees the detective division at the Redding Police Department. \u201cThey have complete criminal jurisdiction of the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I didn\u2019t see him again alive\u2019<\/p>\n

That happened with a Redding case that began on Christmas Day, 2022, when David Couch was taken to jail. Since then, Jeanelle Couch spent three and a half years trying to find out exactly what happened to her son. <\/p>\n

By the time David Couch, 31, was released on Feb. 8, 2023, Jeanelle Couch said her son was experiencing a manic episode. <\/p>\n

According to a lawsuit Jeanelle later filed, David was given the wrong medication for his bipolar disorder for his entire jail stay. He told her he had spent the majority of his time in solitary confinement, another allegation in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was happy to see us and he asked if we remembered him,\u201d she said about the day he went home. \u201cWhen I got up the next morning to go to work, he talked to me for a long time and I said, \u2018oh, honey, I\u2019m so sorry, I got to go to work now.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I didn\u2019t see him again alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\nJeanelle Couch holds photos of her son, David Couch, while standing in Cascade Park in Redding on April 8, 2026. Photos by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters<\/p>\n

That afternoon, David sat in his car in his mother\u2019s driveway in a small residential neighborhood in Redding. <\/p>\n

At 5:25 p.m., the California Highway Patrol received a call of a driver southbound on Interstate 5 who was brandishing a gun. The make, model and plates matched David\u2019s car. <\/p>\n

Nine minutes later, California Highway Patrol officer Ryan Cates pulled into Couch\u2019s driveway. <\/p>\n

According to dashboard camera footage, Couch was sitting in his white Ford sedan with the driver\u2019s side door open. <\/p>\n

\u201cShow me your hands!\u201d Cates called out. \u201cPut your hands up!\u201d <\/p>\n

Couch emerged in a brown hooded sweatshirt, khaki pants and a gray baseball cap, the dashcam footage shows. He was wearing a backpack and gripping his cell phone with both hands. Couch also had a pair of knives strapped to his jacket, according to a Justice Department investigation, but didn\u2019t touch them. Couch took eight steps toward Cates, who had his gun in his right hand, pointed at Couch. <\/p>\n

Their initial conversation is inaudible. <\/p>\n

Cates raised his gun, holding it now with both hands. Couch came toward him. The dashboard camera was able to record more of their argument, which involved Couch saying to leave him alone, then calling Cate obscenities and saying \u201cshoot.\u201d A struggle ensued that was not visible on camera. At least twice, Couch called Cates a slur. <\/p>\n

\u201cGet on the ground,\u201d Cates said. \u201cI will shoot you right now.\u201d <\/p>\n

According to a Department of Justice report issued last week, Couch then got ahold of Cates\u2019 Taser. <\/p>\n

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Still frames from a California Highway Patrol video depicting the altercation between David Couch, at right, and Officer Cates. The progression of action is from left to right. Image via the California Department of Justice<\/p>\n

Couch continued to berate Cates, calling him a \u201cdirty cop.\u201d The two slid back into view, with Cates holding Couch against the hood of the car, Couch\u2019s face bathed red in the patrol car\u2019s dashboard lights. Cates attempted to put handcuffs on Couch, but Couch slipped to his right and out of view of the dashboard camera again. <\/p>\n

\u201cGive me a .45 (caliber handgun) and I\u2019d f \u2014 you up!\u201d Couch yelled at Cates.<\/p>\n

Cates would later tell Justice Department investigators that he believed Couch was trying to take his handgun. <\/p>\n

Then, there were several audible clicks. Couch taunted Cates, asking \u201cit\u2019s not working?\u201d A second later, Cates fired four shots. The entire encounter lasted exactly one minute. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am uninjured,\u201d Cates said into his police radio. \u201cSuspect down, multiple gunshot wounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Couch lived for nine days. He died on Feb. 17, 2023.<\/p>\n

According to Couch\u2019s sister, \u201cDavid was shot so many times he was no longer recognizable.\u201d In an online fundraising appeal for the family, the sister, Lauren Metzger, added that, \u201cWe can\u2019t understand why this happened, but we do know he did not have a gun anywhere around his person when he was discovered laying in the street by my parents and his best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the nine days David Couch survived, a five-agency team convened to investigate the shooting, led by the Redding Police Department. Then, when Couch died, the Department of Justice shooting investigation team took over, and the local team ended its inquiry.<\/p>\n

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A view of the city of Redding from Cypress Avenue on April 8, 2026. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters<\/p>\n

More than three years have passed. Cates returned to work, according to the California Highway Patrol. His lawyer did not respond to messages from CalMatters.<\/p>\n

Shasta County and the state of California have denied responsibility in the federal lawsuit filed by Couch\u2019s family in the Eastern District of California. In its response, Shasta County said Cates is entitled to qualified immunity, which limits the civil liability<\/a> of government officials, usually police officers. <\/p>\n

The investigation from the Department of Justice took 1,199 days. It found \u201cthere is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution of Officer Cates.\u201d <\/p>\n

Shorthanded from the start<\/p>\n

Giving the state justice department more power to investigate law enforcement shootings was hailed as a big win for the police accountability movement when Newsom signed the law in 2020. <\/p>\n

Former Assemblymember Kevin McCarty of Sacramento had proposed the legislation several times before. The fatal shooting of Stephon Clark by Sacramento police in 2018 lent momentum to McCarty\u2019s effort \u2013 Clark\u2019s family was outraged that Schubert, then the district attorney, didn\u2019t press charges<\/a> against officers in his killing.<\/p>\n

George Floyd\u2019s killing by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020 emboldened a bipartisan push for police reform laws that ultimately carried McCarty\u2019s bill through the Legislature and on to Newsom\u2019s desk. <\/p>\n

But within days of receiving their first case, the Justice Department\u2019s shooting investigation teams knew they were undermanned.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere were dozens of tasks and assignments that the \u2026 special agents could not accomplish because of limited staffing,\u201d the department wrote in a budget request<\/a> submitted to the Legislature in 2022. <\/p>\n

Even before the shooting teams deployed, there were early warnings that the Justice Department might have bitten off more than it could chew. <\/p>\n

The department asked for $26 million to pay for the new shooting investigation teams. The Legislature allotted half of that, about $13 million.<\/p>\n

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Former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra on stage during a gubernatorial forum hosted by the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel in Sacramento on April 14, 2026. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters<\/p>\n

The allocation \u201cis significantly lower than our estimates and not enough resources to stand up professional teams to perform these new investigative and prosecutorial duties,\u201d former Attorney General Xavier Becerra wrote to McCarty in January 2021<\/a>, six months before the law took effect. <\/p>\n

The department originally wanted four investigative teams \u2014 one each in Sacramento, Fresno, Los Angeles and Riverside. Instead, it got two, one North and one South. <\/p>\n

One year into the program, shooting investigations were already lagging<\/a> behind Bonta\u2019s self-imposed timeline of one year. <\/p>\n

In response, at the time, Bonta said: \u201cWe got the funding that we got, and we\u2019re going to make it work. We have no choice. We have to find a way.\u201d <\/p>\n

Investigations first stretched past one year, then two years, and in 2025, a case reached beyond three years. <\/p>\n

The California Department of Justice did not make anyone available for an interview about its backlog of police shooting investigations. In a written statement, an unnamed spokesperson said Bonta personally reviews every investigation. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cAll investigations are unique in their complexity, and some may take longer than others to investigate and reach a conclusion.\u201d the statement read. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re continuously identifying ways to tighten timelines and improve our processes. It\u2019s a balancing act \u2014 but it\u2019s one we\u2019re actively managing. Improvements are already taking hold. In the last two and a half years, we closed 9 times as many cases as were closed in the first two and a half years that the law was operational, and we remain committed to improving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police chiefs want faster investigations<\/p>\n

Many law enforcement leaders are growing impatient.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice chiefs across the state have consistently raised concerns and advocated for a timelier process, yet progress has been minimal,\u201d said Sean Thuilliez, president of the California Police Chiefs Association.\u201cWhen transparency is not accompanied by timeliness, the system risks falling short for everyone \u2014 eroding confidence, deepening mistrust, and prolonging uncertainty. <\/p>\n

Law enforcement and conservative prosecutors were, perhaps predictably, opposed to losing local shooting investigations to the state. But even prosecutors who were pursuing police accountability were nervous about removing locals from the process.<\/p>\n

With the state in control, local citizens have less power to protest or pressure their local leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal concern, local protests, local interest is felt by local prosecutors,\u201d said Cristine Soto DeBerry, who created a unit investigating police officers at the San Francisco District Attorney\u2019s Office, where she was chief of staff. She is now the executive director of the progressive advocacy group Prosecutors Alliance. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe very real pain of family and community members that experience that absolutely has an impact on a prosecutor and their willingness to take this crime seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeanelle Couch said that even though the DOJ investigation is over, she\u2019s still hopeful about the lawsuits her family filed against the state, the county and the officer who killed her son. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want light on it,\u201d Couch said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I want. Just, justice.\u201d <\/p>\n

What does justice look like to her? <\/p>\n

She looked at the ground. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow? I don\u2019t know.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeanelle Couch holds a photo of her son, David Couch, while standing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-354720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}