BART offers, then pulls back, promotion of cop in fatal Oakland shooting

Police officers investigate outside barbershop Upperkutz on Seventh and Chester streets outside the West Oakland Bart station after a shooting in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. Sahleem Tindle was killed by police during an incident involving another man. less Police officers investigate outside barbershop Upperkutz on Seventh and Chester streets outside the West Oakland Bart station after a shooting in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. Sahleem Tindle was ... more Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close BART offers, then pulls back, promotion of cop in fatal Oakland shooting 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

The BART Police Department promoted an officer who fatally shot a man in January near the West Oakland Station, selecting him for a mentoring role amid an investigation into whether the shooting followed state law and agency policy, records show.

But the promotion of Joseph Mateu to field training officer, announced Monday by BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas, was put on hold Wednesday after The Chronicle called the agency to ask about it, according to internal bulletins.

Wednesday’s bulletin, marked as an “addendum” and “correction” to the earlier one, said the selection process for new field training officers “has not yet been finalized.”

Field training officers are responsible for instructing and evaluating rookie officers fresh out of the academy as they get their first experience in the field. Training officers must qualify for the position by taking a course and a test. If they pass, they receive a 5 percent pay increase, but do not go up in rank, BART officials said.

Mateu, a 13-year veteran of the force who was promoted to senior officer in 2010, is the subject of an investigation by Oakland police and the Alameda County district attorney’s office into the Jan. 3 shooting of Sahleem Tindle during a violent altercation with another man across the street from the West Oakland BART station.

As of this week, Mateu had not been accused by authorities of any wrongdoing, and Rojas has said the officer displayed “courage” before shooting a man who appeared to be holding a handgun when he was shot in the back.

Tindle’s family members, who filed a legal claim against BART signaling their intent to sue, have called on Mateu to be fired and prosecuted for the killing, which they said was unjustified.

Efforts to reach Mateu and representatives of the BART officers union were unsuccessful.

On Monday, Rojas signed a department-wide bulletin announcing the promotion of Mateu and another officer. Six others remained in a pool of officers eligible for the promotion.

“Officers Joseph Mateu and Michael Manzano have been selected as Field Training Officers,” the bulletin stated. “The effective date of their assignment will be contingent upon successful completion of the Basic Field Training Officer Course.”

But after The Chronicle called to ask about the promotion Wednesday, BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said she called the police chief, who “made the call to send all eight officers to the field training officer course,” including Mateu and Manzano.

“He told me they were sending out a new memo and he was making a call to send all of them to the course,” Trost said.

The revised memo had the original language lined out with a new message in red at the top. Rojas has not responded to phone calls from The Chronicle.

The new language read: “*CORRECTION: The selection process for the listed Field Training Officer applicants has not yet been finalized. Officers Mateu, Mazano and the additional six listed officers must first attend the Basic Field Training Officer course. Candidates who successfully complete the course will then be considered for assignment to the collateral duty of Field Training Officer.”

Trost said Mateu applied for the position in August, and that the shooting investigation does not affect his eligibility.

“The investigation is ongoing, but he’s now qualified and part of the pool,” she said. “Those eight were notified they can go to the field training officer course, which also requires a test. If you pass it, then the department will indicate which will become the new field training officers.”

News of Mateu’s promotion, though it was put on hold, outraged Oakland attorney John Burris, who is representing Tindle’s family.

“This is pretty stunning to me,” Burris said. “It certainly suggests prejudgment of the conduct of the police officer by the department. This only encourages distrust in the ability for the police to police themselves.”

Mateu was placed on administrative leave for two weeks after the shooting, and returned to his patrol assignment Jan. 18, BART said.

According to footage from Mateu’s body-worn camera, he was in BART’s West Oakland Station just after 4:30 p.m. when he heard gunfire and ran through a parking lot to Seventh Street, where he found Tindle and another man grappling on the ground outside a barbershop.

Rojas said Tindle had already shot and wounded the other man, and appeared to be holding a gun. Mateu drew his gun and, as he came upon the men, shouted twice, “Let me see your hands,” before shooting Tindle three times in the back. Tindle died later at the hospital.

Police recovered a gun at the scene, though it’s unclear in the body-camera video whether Tindle had control of the weapon when he was shot.

Rojas called the incident a “very challenging situation” and commended the officer for running toward the sound of gunfire. “This officer didn’t create this,” the chief said at a February news conference. “He had to deal with what was created before he arrived.”

Tindle’s family members have said that Mateu was not threatened by Tindle, the brother of professional boxer Karim Mayfield, and that Tindle did not have enough time to heed the officer’s orders.

“They need to release him from his job and then they need to prosecute him,” Tindle’s brother LaRon Mayfield said of Mateu. “We are not going to let my brother just die in vain from senseless violence from the police.”