Vallejo sued for couple’s violent arrest by police last year

VALLEJO – A couple who was violently arrested outside their Vallejo home last year but faced no criminal charges sued the city of Vallejo alleging excessive force, false arrest and battery by the Vallejo Police Department.

The lawsuit was filed in June by Calvin and Jayme Rush for an incident on June 30, 2023, after Vallejo police followed Calvin Rush home from work and then arrested him and his wife, Jayme Rush, who officers threw to the ground and injured. The Solano County District Attorney’s Office declined to charge the couple with a crime.

In January, the couple filed a claim, which precedes a lawsuit, as Vallejo police saw an increase in claims  for force incidents by police officers after the departure of former Vallejo police Chief Shawny Williams. Department statistics show a dramatic rise in use of force by officers in 2023 but the department has argued that its official use of force statistics are unreliable.

The Vallejo Sun published video of the arrest shortly after it occurred, which shows police take Jayme Rush to the ground and arrest her after she had backed away from her husband’s car onto her front lawn.

The Rushes’ arrest in Vallejo happened around 3:20 p.m. on June 30, 2023. Calvin Rush said that he was returning home from work at a convenience store and passed Vallejo police headquarters on Amador Street. Officer Ted Garcia pulled up behind him and followed him for nearly a mile, according to Calvin Rush.

Garcia attempted to pull Rush over a few blocks from his home. After Rush stopped, Garcia claimed that he had pulled him over because he was driving 55 mph in a residential area, but Rush disputes that he was driving that fast.

Rush said in an interview that he continued driving the last few blocks from his home because he was afraid after his previous encounters with the police. “I was scared, and if anything was going to happen, I wanted to be in the presence of my family,” he said.

But Vallejo police spokesperson Sgt. Rashad Hollis said that when Rush continued driving Vallejo police considered it a pursuit and Garcia called for backup. Six Vallejo police officers arrived at Rush’s home, which Hollis said was all of the officers on duty at that time.

As Rush stopped in front of his home on Grant Street, his wife Jayme Rush came outside. She approached her husband’s passenger side window, confronting Garcia, who was at the driver’s side. She implored her husband to follow the officer’s commands.

After a brief argument with officers, a large male officer stepped onto the Rushes’ property, lunged at Jayme Rush and threw her to the ground.

In the video, Jayme Rush screams in pain as the officers pin her to the ground and pull her hands behind her back to handcuff her.

As officers pulled her to her feet — which the female officer attempted to do initially by pulling solely on the handcuffs behind Jayme Rush’s back — she screamed that her arm and neck were injured.

Vallejo police also arrested Calvin Rush, during which he said Officer Zach Horton pointed a Taser at him while he was handcuffed.

Calvin Rush was on probation at the time of his arrest, but his probation officer did not require him to stay in jail and he was released on bail. He said that his wife — who suffers from back injuries — went to a hospital and was left with marks and bruises and a gash on her knee.

The couple also sued the Fairfield Police Department after they were both violently arrested during a traffic stop in that city in 2019. In that incident, an officer allegedly threw Calvin Rush to the ground after pulling him over for driving with expired tags. 

The lawsuit alleges that when his wife attempted to film the arrest, Officer Dustin Joseph — a former Vallejo police officer implicated in the city’s badge bending scandal — threw her to the ground as well.