A Vallejo police officer was shot and killed Thursday during a foot chase after a bank robbery suspect lost control of his car and ran into a backyard, authorities said.
The officer, James Capoot, a respected 19-year veteran of the Vallejo Police Department and the married father of three daughters, was driving alone in his cruiser just after 1:30 p.m. when he came across a fleeing silver SUV wanted in a robbery that had just occurred at the Bank of America at Springstowne Center on Springs Road.
Vehicle chase
Capoot chased the sport utility vehicle for 3 to 4 miles before using his cruiser to do a "pit maneuver" that forced the SUV to spin out of control on the 100 block of Janice Street, said Vallejo police Sgt. Jeff Bassett.
At least one suspect fled on foot, and Capoot got out of his car and ran after him as two other police officers were pulling up in their cars, Bassett said. Those two officers heard several gunshots and found Capoot wounded in a backyard, Bassett said.
Capoot, 45, of Vacaville was pronounced dead about an hour later at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Vallejo, where colleagues gathered after the shooting.
"The officer did not discharge his weapon," Bassett said.
Police arrested one suspect near the scene of the shooting and said they could not rule out whether a second suspect was involved. Vallejo was assisted by officers from Benicia, Fairfield, Vacaville, the California Highway Patrol and the Solano County Sheriff's Office in a search of the neighborhood just north of Highway 37.
The slaying has shaken a police force still reeling from budget cuts and the departure of dozens of officers since 2008, when the cash-strapped city of 117,000 declared bankruptcy. Some veteran officers left voluntarily in hopes of preventing younger officers from losing their jobs. A federal judge released the city from bankruptcy earlier this month.
Bassett said Capoot was one of six police officers patrolling the streets during the day shift when the shooting occurred. The officers were all working solo at the time. Bassett said officers are typically paired up to patrol the streets during night shifts.
Betty Clarke, 72, said she was home when she heard sirens and then several shots ring out.
She went outside and saw that an SUV that had been chased by police had crashed onto a sidewalk. A police car had collided into a parked car, she said.
Officers were chasing someone into a nearby yard, Clarke said.
She said she was saddened to hear that the officer had died.
"It's scary," Clarke said. "I feel sorry for him because he was doing his job." Clarke said she heard investigators at the scene say that the money stolen from the bank was still in the SUV.
"And these guys - all that for nothing, and a man lost his life?" Clarke said.
Capoot served in the Marine Corps and was posted at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo in 1986.
He started his law-enforcement career with the California Highway Patrol in 1990 and became a Vallejo officer two years later. His father had been a police officer in Little Rock, Ark.
During his career in Vallejo, Capoot served as a motorcycle officer, driving and use-of-force instructor, and on the SWAT team. He received two medals of courage, two life-saving medals and other departmental commendations.
'Loved by everybody'
"He's a guy that's loved by everybody, a guy who was a trainer in almost all aspects of police work. We're a small Police Department now, and we're a tight family, so there's nobody at the Police Department that isn't deeply affected by this," Bassett told a news conference Thursday night.
Capoot leaves behind his wife, Jennifer, whom he met in Vallejo, and their three daughters, ages 17, 19, and 22.
Until August, Capoot had served as a volunteer coach of the girls basketball team at Vallejo High School.
Friends recalled how Capoot enjoyed racing a dirt-track car at a track in Antioch. The vehicle was painted to look like a police car. Its number was 54 - part of Capoot's e-mail address is "Car 54" - and the door was emblazoned with stickers reading "Vallejo P.D. Chase Vehicle" and a sponsor, "Royal Jelly Donuts."
"He was a good guy," said Oakland police Sgt. Dom Arotzarena, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association.
"It's just times like that people realize how dangerous our job is," Arotzarena said. "You wake up in the morning one day and you don't know what's going to happen, and you may not get home. Capoot was a veteran of the Vallejo Police Department - he's no spring chicken."
Capoot recognized that life could be short.
After their longtime friends, Joe and Tami Battle, were killed in a motorcycle crash in January, the Capoots promptly took the Battles' two children into their home. The two are now living with their grandparents, authorities said.
While attending the funeral of a Yuba County sheriff's deputy who was shot and killed in 1997, Capoot told a local newspaper, "All day long, we go to these calls. ... It's human nature to wonder if it could happen to you."
