Widow of man killed by Modesto police officer has died. Why does her family blame the city?

The widow of a man fatally shot by a Modesto police officer in 2022 has died and her family and friends are holding the city responsible.

Brittoni Estrella-Chavez died May 17 in her sleep at her Modesto home, said her mother, Teresa Clutter. Estrella-Chavez was 33 and her survivors include three young sons.

Her death comes nearly two years after Modesto police Officer Sam Muncy shot and killed 30-year-old Paul Chavez on July 14, 2022, in the front yard of a house in the 1400 block of Entrada Way just off East Orangeburg Ave.

“I thought the worst day was July 14, 2022,” an anguished Clutter said to City Council members during public comment at their Tuesday meeting. “I thought that was our worst. I thought that was the worst thing our family would ever have to deal with.

“I never in a million years would think I’d also be standing here and wearing (a shirt with my daughter’s picture on it). The pain that Samuel Adam Muncy has caused our family is so tremendous I wouldn’t even wish it on any of you. ... My daughter couldn’t take it anymore. The pressure. The stress. Losing her best friend of 16 years, her husband.”

Clutter told council members she and her husband now are raising the three grandsons and helping them cope with the loss of their parents.

She was one of nearly a dozen family members, friends and others who spoke during public comment about Estrella-Chavez. They wore T-shirts with her picture and the words “Rest Babygirl, Rest in The Lord” above it.

Chavez’s family members, their friends and supporters had spoken at nearly every council meeting for more than a year after his death, calling for Muncy to be fired and for no more people to die at the hands of the police.

They had stopped coming to meetings in recent months until Tuesday. “They (the City Council) need to know,” Clutter said in an interview about her daughter’s death. As in previous meetings, speakers’ remarks were filled with rage, anguish and grief. The tone could be harsh and abrasive, with some speakers yelling at council members.

Some repeated accusations that council members have been disrespectful and indifferent to Estrella-Chavez and other family members. One speaker called Modesto’s police officer’s “pigs” and used an expletive to describe Police Chief Brandon Gillespie.

Vice mayor responds to allegations

Later in the meeting, during the council comments section of the agenda, Vice Mayor Eric Alvarez responded, saying the allegations of disrespect and indifference are not true but council members are limited in what they can say because of a lawsuit filed by Chavez’s family against the city.

“It does not mean we don’t care about police brutality,” he said. “We have three Latinos up here (on the seven-member council). One African American. ... In what world do we not care? We are up here because we care the most. We take these shots. We take these punches because we care.”

Councilman Chris Ricci said during council comments that it is important to recognize the work the Police Department and City Council have done in recent years regarding police reform. That includes forming the Community Police Review Board and hiring an independent police auditor.

Ricci said he would keep working work with “members of the community who are dedicated to making Modesto better by giving recommendations that can result in the changes that we want.”

These reforms were sparked in a large part by the December 2020 fatal shooting of Trevor Seever by then-officer Joseph Lamantia, who was fired from his job in March 2021.

DA said use of force reasonable

Muncy and Officer Sergio Valencia were dispatched to respond to a 911 call from Chavez’s father-in-law, who had reported that Chavez was drunk and trying to break into the house. He called again to say Chavez had picked up a trailer hitch.

Body camera footage from police shows Chavez holding the trailer hitch at his side and the officers telling him several times to put it down or he will be Tased. Chavez was then Tased by Valencia and pulled out the prongs as the officers continued to tell him to put down the hitch. The shooting by Muncy happened about six seconds later.

Chavez family members and their supporters have said Chavez was not a threat. They have called Muncy’s actions “comply or die” policing.

The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office in December 2022 announced that its review of the shooting concluded Muncy and Valencia had used reasonable force and charges would not be filed.

Family and friends say Chavez was a devoted husband and father. He had worked for nearly seven years as a truck driver for Smart Alternative Fuels, collecting used cooking oil from restaurants and other businesses. Estrella-Chavez had said he’d struggled with alcohol and relapsed not long before the shooting.

Clutter said her daughter relived daily the trauma of witnessing her husband being Tased and shot. Estrella-Chavez can be heard screaming in video of the shooting. But Clutter said her daughter became an advocate for police reform and met with other families who lost loved ones in police shootings.

Clutter said her daughter tried counseling in the aftermath of the shooting but was not able to maintain it because of her schedule. Clutter said she plans to get her three grandsons back into counseling.

Awaiting autopsy results

A service was held June 2 for Estrella-Chavez but the family is still waiting on the results of her autopsy for the cause of death. Clutter said her daughter did not use drugs and had gone to bed and did not wake up the next morning.

The Stanislaus County Coroner’s Office said the cause of death is pending test results.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Clutter with the funeral expenses and other costs from her daughter’s death, including the care of her grandsons.