Janet Maccani called her son Jason around Christmas 2023, and they ended their hours-long conversation with their usual sign off.
He told her he loved her to the moon and stars, and she replied that she loved him to the moon and stars, to the sun and ocean, to infinity and beyond.
It was the last time she would ever speak to him. Jason Maccani, a 36-year-old who grew up in Ventura County, was shot and killed Feb. 3, 2024, by a Los Angeles Police Department officer during a mental health crisis.
The city of Los Angeles recently paid the family $5.8 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit ahead of trial, according to the Maccani’s attorney.
“We were so happy. It was like we were there with each other, and LAPD took that away from my family,”
said Janet Maccani, who now lives in Las Vegas. “No settlement, no amount of money in the world, can replace him.”
The Los Angeles Police Department directed inquiries to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, which did not respond to questions by deadline.
‘There is no justice’
The family filed a missing person report shortly after the shooting when Jason Maccani didn’t show up to a gathering with his siblings. He never would have missed it, and they knew something was wrong, Janet Maccani said.
They called every hospital in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties, but there were no patients with his name.
Finally, two days after the shooting, the coroner's office notified Jason Maccani’s brother.
On Feb. 3, 2024, seven Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to a reported trespassing near the corner of 7th Street and Towne Avenue in Skid Row, according to an Aug. 21 news release from the family’s attorney, Dale Galipo.
The city alleged that the officers believed Jason Maccani was armed with a knife, assaulted a female officer and grabbed the less-than-lethal shotgun she was holding. Body-worn camera and surveillance footage, however, show that Jason Maccani was holding a plastic fork and never assaulted the female officer or got close to taking her weapon, according to the attorney's news release.
Jason’s wife and parents filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, accusing the police department of excessive force, battery, negligence and civil rights violations.
The suit asserts that Jason Maccani did not pose an immediate threat of serious bodily injury or death when he was shot.
The officer who fired the gun, according to the news release, had been with the department for roughly six months and was still in his probationary period at the time of the incident. The release states he shot his supervisor in the hand during the incident, though no one else was injured, and he is no longer with the department.
“With each substantial settlement or jury verdict in these excessive force cases, I am hopeful that the involved entities and their police officers will understand that the use of excessive deadly force by police officers will not be tolerated," Galipo wrote.
For Janet Maccani, the settlement does not equate to justice.
“There is no justice because there's no accountability,” she said, explaining that she wanted the officer to be charged and stand trial.
‘It’s like an epidemic’
The city did not disclose how much it spent on its legal defense prior to the settlement, though Janet Maccani said she believes the taxpayer dollars should have been spent training officers how to de-escalate interactions with those experiencing mental health crises.
The mother said she was upset by the police department’s portrayal of her son. He had bipolar disorder, but he was neither homeless nor a drug addict, she said. She said she did not know what he was doing in Skid Row.
“He was an amazing person, and if there were more people like Jason in this world, it would be a better place,” she said.
As a baby, Jason Maccani was an angel, rarely crying and always sleeping through the night.
He started playing football at 8 years old, and later became a star player on Camarillo High School’s team. He was athletic, smart, kind and charismatic with the most contagious smile, Janet Maccani said.
After graduating from high school in 2005, he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from UCLA, though he quickly realized he was more passionate about interacting with people. He worked as a yoga instructor and Uber driver and hoped to start a family of his own, Janet Maccani said.
“He was so full of life,” she said through tears. “I miss hearing his voice, I miss seeing him, I miss his smile, I miss everything about him.”
Each time Janet Maccani learns of another officer-involved shooting on the news, her anger resurfaces.
“It's like an epidemic,” she said. “Where and when does it come to a stop? It doesn't matter what race, religion or status you are, nobody is immune to officer-involved shootings.”
Janet Maccani said she has dedicated herself to making a change and preventing other mothers from experiencing the same devastation she has experienced.
She hopes to create an amendment to the penal code to ensure that if officers involved in shootings are found to have acted outside of policy, they are criminally charged.
“Nobody should have to endure the type of pain that me and my family have gone through,” the mother said. “There has to be accountability on the officers’ part because maybe then if there are consequences, they'll think twice about pulling the trigger.”
Makena Huey is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at makena.huey@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation's Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Mother of Camarillo High grad seeks reform after $5.8M LAPD settlement
