08/15/2026
For the first time since reports of officers bending the tips of their badges to mark shootings were made public six years ago, Vallejo’s police chief, city attorney, city manager and several councilmembers joined a town hall alongside police reform advocates to answer questions about city policing and the badge bending practice.
The city in June finally released its investigation into the nearly two-decades -long practice of Vallejo police officers bending the tips of their badges to commemorate shootings. But by the end of the town hall on Wednesday evening, some promises for reform from city leaders drew criticism from families of people killed by Vallejo police officers.
As city leaders and stakeholders spoke on a panel about allegations against Vallejo police officers and reform efforts, Angela Sullivan, whose nephew Ronell Foster was killed in 2018 by Vallejo police officer Ryan McMahon, interrupted, saying what happened to Foster was “f**king murder.” She described how McMahon Tased Foster, hit him with a flashlight and then shot him “in six minutes and 47 seconds.”
“My mother died four months later from a broken heart. I watched her grieve to death,” she sobbed. “Put the motherf**kers in jail and I’ll believe it’s a good start. You make it make sense to me.”
At least 50 residents, and more than 40 more online, attended the town hall at the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum, which was organized by the NAACP Vallejo. NAACP chapter president Patricia Hunter told the Vallejo Sun that the organization’s goal is to open conversations with city officials, stakeholders and residents around police reform, with “badge bending” allegations at the center of the discussion.
Read more: https://www.vallejosun.com/vallejo-officials-and-advocates-clash-over-badge-bending-police-reform-during-town-hall-meeting/
