An unarmed man in Hoopa was fatally shot by a California Highway Patrol officer after a foot chase and physical altercation on Sept. 17, 2023.

After William “Willie” Nelson, age 43, was pronounced dead around 8 a.m., local police were instructed to avoid disturbing his body and to wait for state investigators to arrive. But Hoopa is a far drive from the Department of Justice’s office in Sacramento.

His body stayed in a yard for over eight hours. And according to police reports released through the Police Records Access Project, the situation at the scene was tense.

According to police records, a group of people had gathered around Nelson’s body as the day progressed, some shouting at police as they collected evidence.

Many of Nelson’s family members lived nearby and gathered by the scene as the hours passed, climbing cars and peering over a fence to see Nelson and watch local police.

One officer described the group as “very agitated,” in a declaration. Another said in a statement onlookers at the scene expressed their distrust that an  unbiased and objective investigation would be conducted.

While police left him there to maintain the integrity of evidence for outside investigators, Nelson’s body was outside on a day the temperature peaked at 90 degrees.

In the attending officers’ statements, one reported family members “expressed their hatred that the decedent’s body was left exposed on the ground for so long.” Another said that early in the day, one man near the scene’s perimeter yelled at a Sheriff’s Office deputy, and threatened to kill him and all police in Hoopa. Another person reportedly made hand gestures mimicking an imaginary pistol.

Ultimately, given the growing tension and extended travel time, the DOJ gave local police the go-ahead to move the body. The Sheriff’s Office coroner, who had staged nearby earlier, arrived at 4:45 p.m. to collect the body.

By the time the coroner saw Nelson, there were flies swarming and his body was bloated, the coroner’s testimony said.

It was the first time the DOJ investigated an officer-involved-shooting in the county. Documents reveal the novel effort came with hiccups, stemming from the isolation of Humboldt County and the untested nature of the new system.

Today, over two and a half years after his death, the investigations’ findings have yet to be released, but a spokesperson from the DOJ emphasized these investigations must be comprehensive and thorough.

Meanwhile, Nelson’s family is seeking a jury trial in an ongoing wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit.

The day in question, according to records

Around 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 17, “Willie” Nelson and two passengers in a silver Volkswagen Jetta were driving along State Route 96 to go fishing.

CHP officer Neil Johnson (followed by a Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy, David Brooks, in another police car) attempted to pull the car over for violations like a broken windshield and malfunctioning brake lights, but Nelson kept driving, according to Brooks’ partially redacted statement released by the Humboldt County Sheriff through the Police Records Access Project.

According to the statement, Nelson resembled a warrant subject officers were looking for. Later, dispatch told Brooks that he had an outstanding misdemeanor bookable warrant for his arrest, on suspected charges of assault and battery.

But after the patrol vehicles turned on their lights, Nelson reportedly accelerated, drove south of the Hoopa Mini Mart down an unpaved road onto Mesket Lane, jumped out of the vehicle at a turnout and fled on foot into the brush.

One passenger later told police Nelson only said “they pulled out behind me,” before he got out of the car, despite the passenger urging him to just pull over.

Photo of William Nelson, via GoFundMe.

While Deputy Brooks stayed with the passengers in the Jetta, officer Johnson pursued Nelson on foot.

Johnson, who had been assigned at the Willow Creek Resident Post for the past three years, had to hop several fences on the path while chasing Nelson in a semi-circle, approximately 200 yards before catching up with him and getting into a physical altercation.

Despite the spread of investigative documents released through the Police Records Access Project, what exactly happened during the physical altercation isn’t entirely clear yet. Johnson did not have a body camera on him during the altercation, which took place in the yard of a home. Johnson was interviewed by the Department of Justice with his attorney present, but copies are currently restricted.

At the end of the chase, Nelson was shot dead by Johnson, who in turn had facial injuries and a bite mark on his leg from the altercation, in which he deployed his taser.

Details in other documents tell pieces of the story.

One witness who lived in a nearby home told police they heard something like “put your hands up” after seeing glimpses of Nelson fleeing from his car and Johnson chasing after him.

Then they heard gunshots and the same commands repeated. The witness estimated this occurred in just under a minute, when being interviewed by police.

One Jetta passenger later told police they heard three gunshots in a row, less than a few minutes after Nelson jumped from the car. The Sheriff’s Office deputy stated he similarly heard three to four gunshots.

According to a statement from Deputy Matthew Froeming, who was called as backup, he arrived at the scene and Johnson flagged him down. 

“I observed Officer Johnson now kneeling on the ground in a grassy area. I observed Officer Johnson roll a male subject who appeared to be handcuffed onto their back,” Froeming said in his statement.

“Upon getting closer to Officer Johnson, I observed him to be breathing heavy and coughing. I observed Officer Johnson’s uniform to be disheveled, covered in dirt and his arms covered in blood. I also noticed Officer Johnson’s taser holster was empty.”

Froeming found Nelson’s chest to be covered in blood, checked his pulse and noticed he eyes were open but he was not moving, and called in medical assistance. Nelson was declared dead at 8:11 a.m.

At the time, Johnson told Froeming his head hurt and had a bite injury. The deputy reported seeing swelling and redness on Johnson’s face.

The lawsuit filed by his family alleges Nelson put his hands up after Johnson pointed his taser at the man, an altercation ensued, and Nelson ran away again, with Johnson then deploying the taser at Nelson’s back.

“After the Taser was successfully deployed, another altercation ensued, wherein Johnson fired the lethal shots.” 

The lawsuit alleges Nelson was lying flat on his back at the time of the shots. 

“Even though Johnson was not faced with an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury and had less than lethal alternatives available to subdue [Nelson] and to take [Nelson] into custody, including redeploying the Taser or using his police baton, Johnson did not exhaust these alternatives,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alleges Johnson failed to issue warnings he would use force, calling the shooting “excessive and unreasonable,” due to a “lack of immediate threat” to anyone.

The Investigation

Despite the time it took for state investigators to reach the scene, local police began working immediately to capture key evidence.

The county’s Critical Incident Response Team secured the scene, interviewed passengers, checked with nearby residents, took photos and collected evidence.

According to a list of police assignments from the day, 29 officers across eight law enforcement departments were on it.

CHP investigators processed Johnson’s firearm from his belt (which was video recorded and observed by police from other agencies). According to counts from the firearm, there was a potential for three or four rounds to have been fired. Later, investigators found a total of three expended shell casings near where Nelson was shot, and found four bullet wounds noted in his autopsy.

Local police notified the Department of Justice immediately, after determining the case could meet the qualifications for the state office to investigate the shooting.

Under AB 1506, a state assembly bill that went into effect in 2021, the California Attorney General’s Office must investigate shootings of unarmed people by police, a measure aimed at adding transparency and accountability to these types of investigations.

But in this case, it also meant Nelson’s body was in view of his family after he was shot in the chest, due to agents’ eventual travel time of over seven hours.

DOJ officials told local police to not touch or disturb the body in any way before DOJ personnel arrived, according to police statements in the documents.

“It was terrible. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it,” officer Jason Esselman, a spokesperson for the Humboldt Area CHP, told the Outpost when asked about the delay in moving Nelson’s body.

He said because it was the first time the DOJ has worked in the county for this type of incident, the communication channels hadn’t been smoothed out.

Photo via CHP Humboldt.

The downside of the system, he said, is the long travel time to outlying areas.

But he’s hopeful the kinks have since been worked out, noting that it’s been a couple years since and the DOJ has learned more on investigating these types of incidents.

“As of today, they’ve got a better process, more current investigations are going quicker,” he added.

Since then, the DOJ “has attempted to strategically place agents assigned to [California Police Shooting Investigation Teams] in every DOJ regional office in order to cover a wider geographical area, which has greatly improved our response times,” Alexandra Duquet, a spokesperson for the department said in an emailed response to questions from the Outpost.

This includes regional offices in Sacramento, Dublin and Fresno. Tasked with covering all of Northern California, the offices are currently staffed with 8 Special Agents, 2 Special Agent Supervisors and 1 Special Agent in Charge, the spokesperson said.

Local police did end up transporting Nelson’s body.

HCSO Sgt. Blake Massaro spoke with a DOJ special agent over the phone, advising him of the increasing hostility “progressing changes in the safety and security of personnel on scene,” according to a police report.

The DOJ agent said they were still a ways away and authorized local police to have the Coroner collect the body.

During the autopsy, performed five days later and attended by investigators from multiple agencies, the examiner found Nelson had three gunshot wounds and one graze wound on his body. One shot entered his chest and exited near his left armpit. The second entered his left upper arm. The third entered his right forearm, while the fourth grazed his left abdomen. 

The cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the chest, according to an autopsy report. The medical examiner, Dr. James N. Olson, found he was shot while “in close proximity while struggling with a law enforcement officer.”

Nelson’s body was also found with taser prongs in his lower back. He had  methamphetamine and fentanyl in his system, according to the toxicology report contained in the documents. One of the passengers reported to police he had a bad fentanyl habit and had not slept in a couple of days, according to a police summary of the interview.

Johnson’s taser was found tossed in a bush with one cartridge used. He had a bite mark on his leg and bruising on the left side of his face, according to police documents, and was transported to the hospital.

For the investigation into Nelson’s death, the DOJ is reviewing CHP policies on foot pursuits, disengagement and requesting backup, according to emails exchanged between the agencies obtained through a public records act request.

In part of CHP’s foot pursuit policy, obtained through a public records act request, officers are instructed to discontinue foot pursuits if the suspect is identified and could be apprehended later, or if officer safety is in jeopardy.

After being put on administrative leave, Johnson has returned to work at CHP Humboldt, the CHP confirmed. The agency declined to comment on the administrative review or length of time he was on leave through a spokesperson, who cited the lawsuit.

Lawsuit argues Nelson ‘posed no immediate threat’

Filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the latest version of a lawsuit filed by Nelson’s family members names the state of California and Johnson as defendants.

The suit, filed in federal court in Dec. 2024, claims Nelson’s constitutional rights were violated — including rights protecting him against unreasonable search and seizure, excessive force, denial of medical care and battery. It also argues there was a lack of due process for the family.

The lawsuit argues Johnson failed to assess whether he needed to pursue Nelson on foot and use deadly force, stating Nelson was experiencing a mental health crisis.

“They had no information that any person was at risk of harm or danger; they had no information about the decedent’s background or history; they did not see the decedent act in a violent, threatening, or aggressive manner; they had no information that a crime was being or about to be committed by the decedent; and they had no information that the decedent was armed with any weapon,” the lawsuit says.

It argues that because Nelson was not armed with a gun or a knife at any point during the incident he “posed no immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury” to Johnson or others.

The state and Johnson deny these allegations, from the law firm Dean Gazzo Roistacher LLP. A response, filed in court, points out Nelson “willfully and unlawfully used force and violence upon Officer Johnson and provoked the altercation,” the response said.

“The force employed, to prevent the continuance of such conduct was reasonable and not excessive,” the document said. The response also stated the actions of Johnson were taken in response to an emergency situation, and there was reasonable cause to make an arrest.

The family calls for a jury trial, and is seeking damages including for pre-death pain and suffering and wrongful death damages, funeral and burial expenses, loss of financial support, punitive damages against individual defendants, and attorney fees.

Previously, the plaintiffs’ claims for damages in March 2024 were rejected by the state. The suit has been steadily marching through the court process, after it was moved to federal court from the Humboldt County Superior Court.

Attorneys for Nelson’s family, and those representing Johnson and the state, did not return a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Attorney General’s Office says investigations must be ‘comprehensive and thorough’ 

Since the shooting, Nelson’s name has remained on a list of current cases as “under investigation,” on the DOJ website.

Nine other cases predate Nelson’s in the caseload, going as far back as Dec. 2022. There’s currently a total of 55 cases the agency is investigating.

The Attorney General’s office has been tasked with investigating police shootings of unarmed people since 2021.

The change aimed to have an independent, statewide prosecutor that would ultimately review potential for criminal liability. This bill was passed shortly after George Floyd was murdered by officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Humboldt County District Attorney Stacey Eads said in an email that while the office was briefed on the incident early on, the investigation was essentially handed over to the AG. The CHP similarly is uninvolved with the investigation.

“If they determine criminal charges against the involved officer are warranted, the A.G. holds responsibility of initiating and prosecuting a criminal action against the officer,” Eads told the Outpost in a email.

The Attorney General’s office has not yet prosecuted an officer under the bill since it went into effect.

But the DOJ spokesperson pointed out the bill doesn’t only focus on criminal charges.

“Our Police Practices Section looks at each case and evaluates a department’s policies, practices, training, and decision-making related to the incident. We look carefully at the totality of the case, and in each of our cases, we’ve issued a report that often includes recommendations to improve the overall response of our law enforcement partners,” the DOJ spokesperson said in an email. 

Reporting from CalMatters has found that the department wasn’t given as much funding as the office needed to take on these lengthy, complicated investigations, for the entire state.

And with years-long delays in the findings of investigations being released, some families are concerned about the new system. 

The DOJ pointed out that, by nature, the investigations are incredibly complex and must be taken seriously.

“These investigations must be comprehensive, and thorough. Our Division of Law Enforcement California Police Shooting Investigation Teams work to ensure we’ve done our absolute due diligence, such as interviewing and contacting every possible witness, gathering and reviewing all forensic evidence, and looking into all the angles,” the DOJ spokesperson said.

“It’s also important to remember that as part of the investigative process, the facts are reviewed by both our Special Prosecutions Section and our Police Practices Section for analysis which contribute to the final action or report that is produced. Further in recognition of the enormous responsibility associated with these events every single AB1506 report and recommendation is personally reviewed in depth and approved by the Attorney General himself as the culmination of this process,” she added.

A spokesperson for a co-author of the bill, then-Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (now mayor of Sacramento), declined a request for comment.

The first investigation of its kind here showed the system wasn’t initially set up with Humboldt County in mind — the trial run came with problems due to the area’s isolation, a common story with state mandates.

But the DOJ has recently completed an investigation into a shooting that happened around the same time as Nelson’s death.

“This is an active investigation and to protect its integrity, we cannot comment on it. All investigations are unique in their complexity, and some may take longer than others to investigate and reach a conclusion. These investigations must be comprehensive, and thorough,” the DOJ statement said.

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