RSA Statement on Matthew Keith Tucker Incident

A petition circulating online falsely claims that “Matthew Tucker was murdered by two Riverside police officers.” As a result of the online petition and accompanying misinformation being spread on social media as well as comments made at a recent Riverside County Board of Supervisors meeting regarding the 2016 incident, the RSA has issued the following statement:

It’s important that factual information is provided so that actual facts are known.  After a thorough investigation into the deputy involved shooting, the Riverside District Attorney’s office conducted a complete review of the entire case for criminal culpability of the involved deputies. Upon completion of that independent review, the DA’s office declined to file criminal charges on any of the involved deputies.  

The use of force by the deputies in the 2016 incident was found to be reasonable, and the tactics used before the shooting were appropriate. The claims in the online petition have been thoroughly aired in court before a jury and were rejected. In 2018, following a six-day civil trial in federal court, a unanimous jury found the deputies used reasonable force and that there was no negligence in the tactics used by the deputies. In rendering a unanimous verdict in favor of the deputies, the jury rejected all claims that the deputies had violated Mr. Tucker’s civil rights, used excessive force, or were negligent.