Lawsuit accuses Vallejo police of using excessive force during false arrest

VALLEJO - A Vallejo couple alleges in a federal lawsuit filed earlier this month that two Vallejo police officers used excessive force when they arrested them in a case of mistaken identity. 

The lawsuit filed in federal court on May 18 alleges that Vallejo police officers Rosendo Mesa and Jeremy Callahan misidentified Ronnie Lewis as a suspect in the carjacking of an unhoused person’s car in 2024, and officers subsequently arrested him and his fiancée Candace Evans using excessive force. 

According to the lawsuit, Mesa responded to a call about a carjacking at the Carquinez Inn at 160 Lincoln Road East on May 18, 2024. The victim told police dispatchers that he had been robbed at gunpoint by an unknown man wearing all black clothing, who left in the victim’s car, a gray 2013 Dodge Durango, which he had been living in. 

The victim said he had stopped at the inn to take a shower in an unoccupied room when a man approached him with a gun and ordered him to empty his pockets. The assailant struck him on the right temple with the gun, and took his wallet, phone and car keys.

Mesa soon found the stolen car parked unoccupied at 433 Admiral Callaghan Lane, the lawsuit continues. 

Meanwhile, Lewis was walking in the area and got into a Nissan Rogue, with Evans in the passenger seat. Mesa pulled up behind the Nissan and ordered Lewis to turn the vehicle off and put his hands and keys out the window. Lewis complied, Callinan arrived, and Mesa un-holstered his firearm, pointed it at Lewis and commanded him to exit the vehicle, according to the lawsuit.

Lewis exited the vehicle and told the officers he had not done anything to be detained as the officers approached to place him in handcuffs, the lawsuit alleges. Mesa then pulled out his Taser and Tased Lewis in his left ribcage area, the lawsuit alleges. The officers handcuffed Lewis and put him in the patrol car.

The couple says the officers then ordered Evans to exit the car, and she did so while recording the officers with her phone. The officers handcuffed Evans, tackled her and forced her into the back of a patrol car, when Callinan “intentionally slammed the patrol car door shut hitting Evans’ knee, causing injuries,” the lawsuit alleges.

The officers then searched the couple’s Nissan vehicle without consent or probable cause, the lawsuit alleges.

Callinan brought the carjacking victim to the area and asked him to identify Lewis, who was handcuffed and with a cap and hoodie “obscuring his face” while standing next to the patrol car. 

The victim had described the suspect as dressed in all black. According to the lawsuit, Lewis was wearing a gray Adidas sweat top with blue jeans. The victim told police that he couldn’t identify Lewis as the person who robbed him and all he had seen was a Black man with a goatee, according to the lawsuit. 

Despite that, the officers arrested Lewis and Evans. Evans was not charged with a crime. Lewis was charged with carjacking and robbery later that year. His case was dismissed in June 2025. 

The plaintiffs’ attorney Stanley Goff told the Vallejo Sun that Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams dropped the charges against Lewis after a judge ruled  the case was unlikely to succeed in criminal court. He said the issue of Lewis being identified as a suspect without matching the description from the carjacking victim, along with body camera footage, were cited in the criminal case as well.

Goff added that police officers do not typically hold onsite suspect identifications, saying, “It's not advised because it does lead to inaccurate identification.” 

The couple allege numerous violations of their rights, including unreasonable search and seizure, excessive force, battery, unlawful detention, false arrest, malicious prosecution, fabrication of evidence, and false imprisonment.  

City of Vallejo spokesperson Robert Briseño declined to comment. 

Mesa has been named in previous civil rights lawsuits, including from another couple who alleged that Vallejo police officers injured them while forcing them out of a crashed vehicle two years ago. 

In that lawsuit, Daisy Romero alleged that officers dragged her out of the vehicle by her hair while she was unconscious and Mesa slammed her body to the ground as she screamed in pain and vomited. 

Mesa was also named in an excessive force lawsuit where a plaintiff said Mesa ordered his police dog Loki to enter his car through the window and bite him, and that the officer took no action to stop it even though the dog had a collar designed to give an electronic command to stop the attack. The city settled the lawsuit for $40,000.

In an interview, Goff linked the incident involving Lewis and Evans to a history of excessive force complaints about the Vallejo Police Department.

“The Vallejo Police Department has a bad history of mistreating its residents,” Goff said. “I hope more people come forward if they’ve been wronged by officers to assert their rights in court and seek justice.”