by John Glidden | glid24@protonmail.com | November 6, 2025
VALLEJO – A former Vallejo police officer is at risk of having his federal lawsuit tossed after he failed to comply with a judge’s order to file an amended complaint in a timely manner, court records show.
United States Magistrate Judge Jeremy D. Peterson explained in his findings, released on October 31, 2025, that on September 9, he gave Ryan McMahon two weeks to file an updated complaint, but the former Vallejo cop failed to do so.
It was the second extension given to McMahon after the court granted a motion to dismiss McMahon’s first amended complaint in early August. After tossing the lawsuit, the court gave McMahon three weeks to file a timely amended complaint.
He didn’t.
“Accordingly, on September 9, 2025, I ordered plaintiff (McMahon) to show cause why this action should not be dismissed. I notified plaintiff that if he wished to continue with this lawsuit, he must file an amended complaint within fourteen days. I also warned plaintiff that failure to do so would result in a recommendation that this action be dismissed,” Peterson wrote in his October 31 findings. “The deadline has passed, and plaintiff has not filed an amended complaint or otherwise responded to the September 9, 2025, order.”
Peterson is recommending that Presiding District Court Judge Kimberly J. Mueller toss the case.
McMahon, through his then-lawyer Lenore LuAnn Albert, originally filed the lawsuit, in U.S. District Court in September 2023, alleging that he had to leave the Broadmoor Police Department following a Vallejo Sun article which outlined several incidents in which McMahon was flagged for poor performance with Vallejo police in 2018.
McMahon alleged that the performance records used in the article should have been destroyed and were improperly released to the media. McMahon was fired by Vallejo police for endangering a colleague during the shooting of Willie McCoy in 2019.
McMahon alleged that former Vallejo police Capt. John Whitney took the confidential personnel records before he himself was fired by the department. McMahon also named Lt. Shane Bower as a defendant for not properly securing McMahon’s personnel records, leading to the records being leaked to the media.
Bower was removed as a defendant in December 2023. Whitney and the city of Vallejo continue to remain as defendants.
Records show that the court has given McMahon multiple chances to file the correct documents. He began serving as his own attorney in May 2024 after his original legal counsel, Lenore LuAnn Albert, was disbarred by the California Supreme Court.
Following the disbarment, the court granted a 60-day stay in the case to allow McMahon time to find new counsel starting in May 2024.
In September 2024, Mueller signed off on another 60-day stay after McMahon was unable to find a new lawyer.
“The parties agree ‘that allowing additional time for Mr. McMahon to obtain new counsel would be most productive as Mr. McMahon is not an attorney and does not feel comfortable evaluating the pending motions and potential amended Complaint,’ Mueller wrote.
Then in December 2024, Mueller granted McMahon another chance to address his lawsuit, approving a request from both sides allowing McMahon 30 days to work on a first-amended complaint. An amended complaint, which replaces the original complaint, allows the plaintiff to add new material to be considered. Mueller then passed the case to Peterson, as the magistrate judge assigned to the case, to handle all further pretrial proceedings.
He missed that January 2025 deadline with Peterson then directing McMahon to “show cause within 14 days why this action should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute, failure to comply with court orders, and failure to state a claim.”
McMahon also missed that deadline with Peterson, once again, calling out McMahon in February 2025.
“Accordingly, on January 29, 2025, plaintiff was ordered to show cause within fourteen days why this case should not be dismissed. In response, the plaintiff filed a motion for permission to file documents electronically. He did not, however, file a first amended complaint,” Peterson wrote in late February.
Finally, on March 14, 2025, McMahon submitted his amended complaint while also submitting an explanation in which he promised not to miss any more deadlines.
“Judge Peterson, I sincerely apologize for failing to comply with the Court’s directive to file an amended complaint as outlined. I mistakenly believed that opposing counsel and I were required to meet and confer before submitting any amended complaint to the Court, as we had done on at least two prior occasions,” McMahon wrote. “Based on your most recent order, I now understand that my interpretation was incorrect.
“With the utmost respect, I humbly request the Court’s permission to present my
case and assure you that I will adhere to all future deadlines in a timely manner,” he added.
Shortly after submitting his first amended complaint, both the city of Vallejo and Whitney filed separate motions to dismiss the case. A month later, Peterson recommended that the motions to dismiss be approved and the case closed, which Mueller approved in August 2025. However, Mueller gave McMahon another chance to file a second amended complaint but so far, McMahon has yet to respond, leading to Peterson’s latest admonishment.
McMahon joined Vallejo police in 2017 following time with the Sausalito Police Department and the Central Marin Police Authority.
While with Vallejo police, he shot and killed Ronell Foster on Feb. 13, 2018. McMahon shot Foster seven times after the two men fought behind a building in the 400 block of Carolina St. McMahon, who attempted a traffic stop on Foster, told investigators after the shooting that he sought to “educate” Foster about driving his bicycle without a light, according to files released by the city.
Vallejo later settled a lawsuit with Foster’s family for $5.7 million.
He was one of six officers who fired 55 times into a vehicle parked in a Taco Bell drive-thru where Willie McCoy was found unresponsive. As officers began shooting into the vehicle, McMahon fired one round from behind Officer Bryan Glick. That action led to McMahon’s termination from Vallejo police.
Photo caption: Former Vallejo police Officer Ryan McMahon appears in a still image from a deposition video in the civil case regarding the shooting of Ronell Foster in 2018. McMahon was asked to recreate the interaction between himself and Foster.
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