Federal judge tosses lawsuit from former Vallejo police officer

by John Glidden | glid24@protonmail.com | December 9, 2025

VALLEJO – A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a former Vallejo police officer’s lawsuit after he missed several deadlines to amend his civil complaint against the city of Vallejo and former police department whistleblower.

U.S. Senior District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller agreed with a series of recommendations issued from a United States magistrate judge in October that the lawsuit from Ryan McMahon be tossed after he missed two court deadlines to submit an amended complaint.

“Having reviewed the file, the court finds the findings and recommendations to be
supported by the record and by the proper analysis,” Mueller wrote in her brief decision, supporting the recommendation from United States Magistrate Judge Jeremy D. Peterson.

McMahon originally filed his lawsuit in September 2023 claiming the city improperly retained his personnel files, which ended up being leaked to the press, ultimately leading to him being ousted from the Broadmoor Police Department.

In January 2023, the Vallejo Sun published an article outlining several incidents in which McMahon was flagged for poor performance with Vallejo police in 2018.

McMahon argued 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 continued 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 McMahon never did.

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.