VALLEJO – Marcus Kutterer died last month when he crashed his motorcycle on Sacramento Street while fleeing from a Vallejo police officer. Police said the officer started the pursuit because Kutterer was driving recklessly and claimed that the officer ended the pursuit prior to the crash because of safety concerns. But video obtained by the Vallejo Sun showed that the officer was still pursuing Kutterer when he crashed, and then drove past the crash scene at high speed.

Kutterer was the fifth person to die as a result of a Vallejo police pursuit since 2023. Of the five, one other person was a suspect driver, two were bystanders, and one was a passenger. Three of the five fatal pursuits involved chasing nonviolent crime suspects.

The two bystanders were both killed in 2023 amid a record year of 197 pursuits. After that, the department released its first-ever pursuits analysis, and vowed to reduce collisions from pursuits.

The following year, Vallejo police engaged in 143 pursuits and boasted in the department’s annual pursuit report that they had reduced pursuits by approximately 27% while acknowledging that pursuits are “inherently dangerous.”

“This decline highlights progress toward our initiative to minimize risks to the community and officers,” the report reads, “as we work toward our goal of zero pursuits.”

But a Vallejo Sun analysis shows that pursuits have remained elevated compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. The department engaged in 85 pursuits in 2018 and 70 in 2019. The number of pursuits skyrocketed in 2020, when officers engaged in 168 pursuits, and then engaged in 149 pursuits in 2021 and 132 pursuits in 2022.

The department has no strict standards for when officers engage in pursuits and has not made any substantive changes to its pursuits policy in recent years, although policing experts recommend against engaging in pursuits for nonviolent crimes, among other reforms. 

The Vallejo Sun analyzed three years of pursuit records from the Vallejo Police Department and the California Highway Patrol along with media reports and court filings between 2023 to 2025. The Vallejo police record keeping appears to have been inconsistent, and, as a result, the figures in the analysis are almost certainly an undercount. But Vallejo police officers engaged in at least 440 pursuits in that timespan. At least 92, or over 20% of them, ended in a collision, and at least 30 of those resulted in injuries or deaths.

Vallejo police have not yet released its full pursuit data from 2025, but the Vallejo Sun was able to determine it engaged in at least 98 pursuits.  

The vast majority of the time when the department pursued a suspect, it wasn’t for a violent crime. Well over 80% of the reports the Vallejo Sun reviewed showed the department pursuing suspects of nonviolent crimes or infractions. 

The department also appears to have pursued Black suspects at a highly disproportionate rate. The Vallejo Sun was able to find 195 instances where the department recorded a suspect’s race whom they had pursued, out of which 115, or almost 60%, were recorded as Black. According to the most recent census data, roughly 17% of Vallejo’s population is Black.

In its 2024 report, the department attributed “the proliferation of side shows” and the expansion of automatic license plate readers, which the city contracts with Flock Safety to provide, as the two biggest reasons for the surge in pursuits.

A 2023 report by the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit founded in the 1970s made up of criminal justice academics and police executives to identify and guide best policing practices, recommended that due to the dangers pursuits pose, high speed chases should not be a routine part of law enforcement work. Former Vallejo police Capt. Jason Potts, who is now chief of the Las Vegas Department of Public Safety, helped craft the guide. The report was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The report generally recommends against chasing suspects riding motorcycles, both because of their ability to maneuver into areas where police vehicles cannot follow and because of the elevated risks involved with chasing them. The report stated that, in 2019, motorcyclists were 29 times more likely to die in a pursuit than drivers or passengers in cars. The Vallejo police vehicle pursuit policy makes no reference to motorcycles.

“You can get a suspect another day,” the guide reads, “but you can’t get a life back.”

Pursuit related injuries and deaths are common, even to bystanders

On Aug. 30, 2023, Officers Dynelle Jones and Matthew Railton chased a 17-year-old robbery suspect at speeds of 90 mph in a 30 mph zone while weaving in and out of oncoming traffic. 

The Vallejo police department discourages officers from chasing vehicles against traffic, but doesn’t outright ban the practice. “As a general rule,” the policy reads, “officers should not pursue a vehicle driving left of center (wrong way) against traffic.”

The driver crashed into two other vehicles, killing 59-year-old bystander Hudson Joseph Standley and severely injuring another person. The suspect escaped, but the department arrested him about six months later.

Vallejo’s pursuit policy makes no reference to juveniles, and officers are not instructed to consider a suspect’s age while deciding to initiate or continue a pursuit. The Police Executive Review Forum’s guide, however, dissuades law enforcement from chasing children, stating that “juvenile suspects present additional risks in a pursuit, such as lack of driving experience and immaturity regarding dangers.” The guide points out that teen drivers have a higher rate of fatal crashes than adults.

“Because of the increased risks associated with pursuing juvenile offenders,” the guide states, “agencies should discontinue a vehicle pursuit, or at least require that a supervisor approve the continuation of the pursuit, if they determine that the driver is a juvenile.”

About two months later, a police officer chased a suspect for reckless driving who then crashed into two parked cars, pinning 76-year-old bystander Russell Hawk, and killing him. The suspect escaped. The department has not stated who the officer was or how fast they were driving.  

That same month, two other bystanders were injured and one driver was injured in two other pursuits of nonviolent suspects.

During one incident, Officers Kyle Wylie and Sarah Phipps chased a car theft suspect for over five minutes on city streets, reaching a maximum speed of 75 mph, according to a pursuit report submitted to the CHP. The 36-year-old driver crashed after driving in the wrong direction, injuring himself and a bystander.

During another incident the next day, Officer Colin Eaton chased a shoplifting suspect for approximately one minute, until the 19-year-old driver, Maiya Green, crashed and injured a bystander. 

Body camera footage obtained by the Vallejo Sun shows that shortly after the crash, Eaton pulled Green out of the car, slammed her into a truck, shoved her to the pavement, and punched her in the face. Pursuit reports require officers to note when a suspect is injured after a pursuit, but Eaton did not record any injuries to the driver in his report. 

Eaton has a history of use of force incidents. He’s one of six officers who shot and killed Willie McCoy in 2019 as he slept in his car in a Taco Bell drive-through in 2019, was sued for pulling over McCoy’s niece and Tasing her two months later, and was disciplined in 2020 for pinning a man’s head on the concrete with his boot for nearly a minute.

Green is not the only person who was injured after a pursuit, but not as a result of a collision. In addition to the 30 collision-related injuries, six people are listed in pursuit reports as being injured after the pursuit concluded, including five drivers and one passenger. The reports don’t make clear how those people were injured. 

Eaton was involved in at least four other pursuits that ended in injuries in 2023 and 2024. In each instance, he was pursuing suspects for nonviolent crimes or infractions. Six total people were injured in these pursuits, including four driver suspects and two bystanders. 

Four of these pursuits ended in arrests, but one did not. In November 2023, Eaton, along with Officer Nicholas Petrie, chased a 16-year-old car theft suspect in separate vehicles for roughly eight minutes, reaching a maximum speed of 120 mph, according to a pursuit report. After crashing and injuring himself and a bystander, the teenager managed to escape.

Overall, records show Vallejo police claim to have abandoned pursuits a little over half the time and made no arrest due to safety concerns or losing sight of the suspect. 

On July 6, 2024, a police officer chased a driver at approximately 1 a.m., who crashed into a house on the corner of Broadway and Alabama Street, killing a passenger and injuring the driver, another passenger, and three bystanders. 

Vallejo police did make public a pursuit report saying which officer was driving or why they initiated the pursuit, but according to dispatch audio, police found four firearms in the vehicle, and a witness said one of its occupants was wearing a ski mask.

Another fatal pursuit occurred just two days later. According to a pursuit report, Jones and Phipps chased a 35-year-old car theft suspect for roughly three minutes, reaching a maximum speed of 85 mph before he crashed and died. It was the second deadly pursuit Jones engaged in within a year.

There is only one recorded incident where an officer was hurt during a pursuit. In June 2023, Petrie chased a car theft suspect at 80 mph on residential streets. Petrie crashed near Curtola Parkway and Alameda Street, injuring himself, a bystander, and causing property damage, according to a pursuit report. The suspect escaped. 

Petrie’s pursuits appear to have resulted in more injuries than any other officer’s. In 2023 and 2024, at least five of his pursuits resulted in injuries to eight people, including himself. In total, four bystanders, two driver suspects, and one passenger were hurt. Four of them involved nonviolent crime suspects and one involved a violent crime suspect.

The department’s documentation of pursuits is incomplete

Law enforcement agencies in California are legally required to turn in reports to the CHP within 30 days of any pursuit. 

The reports outline which officers participated in pursuits, maximum speeds they drove, how long the pursuits lasted, what suspected crimes initiated the pursuit, what type of attempts officers used, if any, to forcibly stop driver suspects, whether officers apprehended any suspects, and suspect drivers’ race and birthdate. 

The Vallejo Sun requested all of the reports for the last three years, but many Vallejo police pursuits were undocumented in the reports. The department reported that officers had engaged in 340 pursuits in 2023 and 2024, but the CHP only provided 245 reports for those years.

The department’s apparent pattern of failing to turn in pursuit reports also means that it is difficult to determine how many pursuits occurred in 2025. The CHP provided 98 reports for 2025, but Vallejo police have not yet released their own pursuit data for that year.

One pursuit that was not documented in the CHP reports was revealed in a lawsuit filed in March which alleges that a child was injured during a pursuit-related collision on Aug. 6, 2023.

The lawsuit alleges that Officer Ronald Dupree, along with assisting officers Petrie and Bryan Glick, “approached the wreckage with firearms drawn,” then pushed the child “into abrasive ground” causing “deep scraping injuries and bruising” despite the child being “incapable of or presenting meaningful resistance” due to his injuries from the crash.

According to the lawsuit, the child still has recurring seizures as a result of the incident, and has developed “a lifelong neurological disorder.”

Because the pursuit was not documented in the CHP reports, the Vallejo Sun was unable to determine the reason for the pursuit or any information about the suspect they were pursuing.

Another pursuit missing from the records was revealed in a claim filed with the city in June 2025. Daniel Isaac Soria alleged that he was injured when a suspect crashed into his vehicle on Tennessee and Shasta streets in March of that year. 

The claim alleges that Officer Robert DeMarco “negligently operated his vehicle” during the pursuit by “traveling at a high rate of speed in a densely populated area” and failed to consider “danger posed to other motorists.” 

Most pursuits are for nonviolent crimes

In their 2023 and 2024 annual pursuit reports, Vallejo police listed the top five offenses that led to pursuits per year; they were all nonviolent, and made up a majority of pursuits.

In 2023, the top two offenses were vehicle theft, which led to roughly 28% of pursuits, and reckless driving, which led to 25%. Burglary, speeding, and red-light violations were the next three most common, and they led to 22% of pursuits cumulatively. A review of pursuit reports also show that at least an additional 16 pursuits, or roughly 8% of all pursuits, were for other nonviolent traffic infractions, such as running a stop sign, or making an illegal U-turn. 

In 2024, the top five offenses were vehicle thefts, reckless driving, burglary, license plate violations, and speeding. In total, more than 80% of all pursuits were for nonviolent crimes and infractions in 2023 and 2024.

While likely incomplete, the 98 pursuit reports for 2025 obtained by the Vallejo Sun suggest that these trends continued in 2025. Of the 98 pursuits, 87 were for nonviolent crimes or infractions. Reckless driving made up the most common offense, followed by suspected car thefts, license plate violations, window or obstructed view violations, and speeding.

Pursuits for violent crimes were comparatively rare. The Vallejo Sun found 30 incidents where officers pursued a violent suspect from 2023 through 2025, or roughly 7% of the 440 pursuits. It’s likely this figure is higher due to the incomplete documentation of pursuits.

Suspected carjackings led to eight pursuits, more than any other violent crime. Assault with a deadly weapon and robbery both led to seven pursuits each. Twice officers pursued suspects for brandishing a deadly weapon. Officers also recorded pursuing suspects for attempted murder, battery on an officer, criminal threats, murder, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, and kidnapping.

When police chased suspects for violent crimes, they made an arrest  almost half the time, as pursuit reports show 14 instances where officers made arrests, including five carjacking suspects and three robbery suspects. They also arrested four suspects they pursued for assault with a deadly weapon. One assault suspect, who was apprehended by Eaton after a brief pursuit in May 2024, was also arrested for suspicion of murder. 

Additionally, officers arrested one person each under suspicion of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, and brandishing a deadly weapon.

In 15 other incidents, the suspects escaped, including two separate incidents where suspects got into a collision that injured a bystander during a pursuit, but still managed to avoid arrest. 

In one instance it’s unclear whether or not the department made an arrest after pursuing a violent suspect. On July 29, 2023, Officers Eaton, Zachary Horton and Rosendo Mesa chased a robbery suspect for 30 miles at speeds reaching 120 mph. They turned in a pursuit report but left it incomplete, neglecting to fill out the portion that would have indicated information about the suspect’s identity, and whether or not they arrested them.

In total, 23 of the 30 pursuits that resulted in injuries or deaths were for nonviolent crimes. Of those, 13 were for nonviolent thefts or possession of stolen items, two were for reckless driving, and eight were for nonviolent traffic infractions. Violent crimes made up four of the pursuits that resulted in injuries or deaths, including two robberies, one carjacking, and one assault with a deadly weapon. 

There were three pursuits resulting in injuries where the department has not released information about what suspected crime or infraction instigated the pursuit.

VPD has disproportionally targeted Black people during pursuits

The Vallejo Police Department appears to have pursued Black people frequently, as almost 60% of all pursuits the Sun reviewed targeted them, disproportionate to the 17% share of the population. 

Black people were also stopped by officers more often between 2023 and 2025, making up about 43% of all recorded stops during those years, according to the department’s racial and identity profiling data.

Information about the race of suspects was unavailable for many of the 245 recorded pursuits, both because some of the available reports did not include that information and because the department was often unable to identify the race of a suspect they did not apprehend. 

When police pursued Black suspects, injuries appear to have occurred more frequently as well. Out of the 30 documented pursuits that resulted in injuries or deaths, the department recorded the suspect’s race 26 times. Roughly 88% of those suspects, or 23 out of the 26, were Black. The other three were Latino.

When suspect drivers were hurt in a pursuit, they were almost always Black. Out of the 14 injured drivers, 13 were Black. 

Vallejo-based civil rights attorney Melissa Nold told the Vallejo Sun she thinks the data shows the department is pursuing suspects in a racist manner.

“If the stats say you’re pulling Black folks over more often, that’s who you’re looking for,” Nold said. “It’s the culture of Vallejo’s Police Department and it’s racism.”

Nold said she thinks the way the department treats its own officers is emblematic of the way it treats the public, as there have been several incidents in recent years where Black officers have accused the department of racism.

A former colleague testified that Vallejo police Lt. Herman Robinson, whose father was the first Black officer in the department’s history, complained of being called racial slurs by fellow officers. A Black former Vallejo detective, Jason Scott, filed a complaint against Sgt. Matthew Mustard for allegedly telling a racist joke in 2019 and denigrating him for his race. More recently, former Chief Shawny Willliams, the first Black chief, testified that he resigned in 2022 after facing a racist harassment campaign.

“If you’re being racist against your Black employees, you’re being racist to everyone else,” Nold said.

Is VPD making pursuits safer?

Vallejo police have historically been one of the deadliest police departments in the state. Between 2010 and 2020, Vallejo police officers shot and killed 19 people. Shootings by officers received even more scrutiny after revelations that officers had bent the tips of their badges to commemorate shootings. 

The California Department of Justice entered a reform agreement in 2020 which required the department to complete 45 reforms. The reforms relate to mitigating bias in policing, internal investigations into misconduct, and transparency in use of force incidents, but none relate to police pursuits.

Since the oversight started, police killings through use of force have slowed and there has been only one fatal shooting by a Vallejo police officer since Sean Monterrosa was killed in 2020.  Yet pursuits have risen, leading to the deaths of five people.

The Police Executive Research Forum’s guide recommends several ways to make pursuits safer, including training, supervision, and replacing pursuits with other, safer methods of tracking and capturing suspects.

Vallejo police spokesperson Sgt. Rashad Hollis said that officers participate in a day-long emergency vehicle operation course “a minimum of twice a year,” and that it lasts the whole day and includes behind-the-wheel activities. 

Training schedules posted on the department’s website show that two emergency vehicle operation courses were listed as having occurred in 2023, 2024, and 2025. 

The Police Executive Research Forum emphasises the role of a supervisor who provides oversight during and after a pursuit. According to their guide, “agency policy should clearly indicate that the supervisor is responsible for managing the pursuit and have a process for getting a supervisor involved as early as possible.” It emphasises that the supervisor should be the one “ultimately responsible for the vehicle pursuit” and should take “an active role in managing” it. 

The guide also recommends that officers check in with supervisors after a pursuit, and “each pursuit, regardless of outcome, should be reviewed promptly for adherence to training and policy.” In addition to supervisors and officers talking after pursuits, the guide suggests agencies create a pursuit review board “to strengthen the quality and thoroughness of administrative reviews.”

The Vallejo police policy states that “available supervisory and management control will be exercised over all vehicle pursuits” and that officers initiating pursuits should broadcast information about the suspect as soon as it starts.

Vallejo’s policy doesn’t require supervisors to review pursuits with officers after every pursuit, but says that “supervisors should initiate follow up or additional review when appropriate.” The department has no pursuit review board, but Hollis said all pursuits are recorded with dashboard cameras and are reviewed by the department’s Professional Standards Division. In total, 14 total officers serve in the Professional Standards Division, including officers Eaton and DeMarco.

The Police Executive Research Forum also recommends using GPS tracking devices that can be attached to vehicles so that pursuits can be aborted and suspects can be tracked and apprehended at a safer time. The guide claims that, according to a study of these trackers, suspect drivers tend to return to within 10 miles per hour of the posted speed limit within two minutes after a tracker is deployed and a pursuit is abandoned. 

It’s unclear if the Vallejo Police Department uses GPS trackers. The Vallejo Sun emailed Hollis multiple times asking if the department uses these devices, but he hasn’t answered.

The guide suggests using air technology, such as drones or helicopters, to track vehicles. The department recorded using this technology 24 times in pursuit reports, typically during longer pursuits.

When Vallejo police used air technology during pursuits, they recorded arresting suspects 12 times, or half the time. Crashes still occurred when they used the technology, as did injuries. In total, there were seven crashes when police used air technology, and five of these crashes resulted in injuries.

The guide suggests using automatic license plate readers as well as a method of reducing pursuits. Vallejo police use this technology, but, according to their 2024 annual pursuit report, the technology has contributed to an increase in pursuits, not a reduction.

Nold said that she thinks there should be oversight put in place to prevent officers from killing people during pursuits.

“When they stopped shooting people they started killing them during pursuits,” Nold said. “Just because you’re not killing people with a gun doesn’t mean you should be killing them with a car.”

Nold, who worked as a Napa County sheriff’s deputy before becoming a lawyer, also said thinks officers like Eaton, Petrie, and Jones, who repeatedly engage in chases that end in injuries or deaths, cause the department to be more dangerous overall.

“How do you keep your job at that point?” Nold said. “When you have the same problem over and over again, it becomes a liability problem.”