An angry crowd holds up placards as the Monterosa family's attorney says he opposes returning Vallejo police officer Jarrett Tong to the streets. Dozens of protesters packed the City Council on Tuesday to protest the reinstatement of a police officer after the 2020 shooting death of Sean Monterrosa. (Chris Riley/Times Herald)
The city of Vallejo has paid $118,050.40 in back pay to the recently reinstated police officer who killed Sean Monterrosa, the Times Herald reported.
The city paid the police. Jarrett Tong made the disclosure on Sept. 28 in a bank statement obtained through her public records request. Rashad Hollis, public information officer for the Vallejo Police Department, said Friday afternoon that Tong has indeed returned to the force, but he does not know when Tong started working.
Hollis said Tong currently works for the City of Vallejo as part of the training department, but Hollis specifically said Tong does not teach courses or train officers.
“He's the scheduler for the training department,” Hollis said. “Basically, if someone is late for a CPR class or needs to take a field abstinence class, that person controls the schedule and makes sure the officer gets that instruction.” is.”
When asked how he felt about Tong rejoining the force, Hollis said, “I'm not going to comment on that.”
Detective Tong received $118,969.92 in regular pay and $48,408 in overtime pay in 2021, his last full year with the Vallejo Police Department, according to records in the public salary database Transparent California. .
In the early hours of June 2, 2020, Tong shot and killed an unarmed Monte Rosa in the back of the head, sparking an intense public outcry. The 22-year-old was fleeing the scene of a robbery in Vallejo. When Tong and other officers claimed he suddenly spun around and fell into a “shooting position,” Walgreens said.
The detective, seated in the back seat of the SWAT vehicle, gave no verbal warning and fired five shots from a semi-automatic weapon into the vehicle's windshield in 1.5 seconds.
“What did he point at us?” Tong can be heard asking on the body camera recording.
“I don’t know,” another officer replies.
There is no video of the shooting itself. An investigation revealed that Monterrosa had a claw hammer, not a gun, inside his sweatshirt.
This was the third time Tong had shot someone while on duty.
The city fired the detective in October 2022 after criminal justice consulting firm OIR Group concluded the shooting violated department policy. However, a third party overturned that decision in August.
Arbitrator Alexander Cohn noted that he was legally obligated to consider only the facts available to Tong at the time the shooting occurred, and ordered Tong to pay the amount owed in a “final and binding” report. He was ordered to return to the army.
“It is not an easy question, but it forces the arbitrator to view the situation from the perspective of the SWAT officers at the time,” Cohn wrote. “Using that lens, (Tong) acted in self-defense against his fellow officers and shot and killed Monterrosa. He believed Monterrosa was about to be shot.”
Vallejo City Manager Mike Malone announced on August 29 that the city has “begun preparations for (Tong's) return.”
In September, a crowd of about 120 people packed into Vallejo City Hall to protest and delivered an impassioned two-hour speech slamming the city's decision.
Among the protesters was attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing Monterrosa's family in a civil lawsuit against the city. Merritt declined to immediately answer Mayor Robert McConnell's question about how to prevent Tong from returning to the military.
“I certainly bring myself and my resources and an international group of people working with cities across the country to come up with a reasonable answer to that question,” he said at the time.
If Tong returns to patrol, Merritt and civil rights attorney Melissa Nord have promised to hire private security to monitor his movements and alert the community to Tong's presence. .
