Vallejo police union president sent threatening email to reporter, attorney confirms
Lt. Michael Nichelini was the author behind an intimidating email that was sent to a local newspaper columnist.
(Courtesy image, Graphic by Solano News Update)
A threatening message sent this week from a general email account used by the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association was written by the group’s president, an attorney representing the union confirmed on Thursday.
Lt. Michael Nichelini was responsible for the email sent to San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor, Jr. on Monday after the journalist announced he was leaving the newspaper for another publication in Atlanta.
“Looks like 2021 will be a little bit better not having your biased and uniformed [sic] articles printed in the newspaper that only inflame the public,” the e-mail written by Nichelini said. “You have never looked for truth in any of your writings.”
The e-mails author was initially unknown, though Taylor and others who have covered the police department for years had some idea of who might have been behind it. When asked by another media outlet to speculate, Taylor wouldn’t, but he said the e-mail continued a concerning pattern of threats and intimidation by officers who are assigned to a police department that has come under fire in recent years.
(Graphic by Solano News Update)
In a television interview, union attorney Michael Rains confirmed the author of the message was Nichelini and said it was not intended as a threat but rather an expression of frustration over Taylor’s numerous columnist about police abuses in Vallejo, which he and others have characterized as lopsided.
But the email didn’t come across that way to the Shawny Williams, Vallejo’s chief of police, who wrote in a press release on Tuesday that it crossed a line.
“I am deeply disturbed by the statement purported to have been made by the VPOA to Mr. Taylor,” Williams wrote. “We do not condone any form of disrespect, discourteous behavior or act of intimidation toward our media partners.”
Williams apologized for the e-mail and said the agency would launch an investigation into what happened. In a conversation with Solano News Update on Tuesday, Taylor said he was curious to see what conclusion the police department’s will draw from its investigation into the e-mail.
“It's troubling that a union representing officers in a department embroiled in so much turmoil would have the audacity to target anyone,” Taylor wrote in a social media message. “But, as I've reported, Vallejo police have a long history of intimidating people, even public officials.”
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