A lawsuit has been filed against the city of Sacramento, the Sacramento Police Department, and Officer Matthew Sterling, alleging excessive force and wrongful death after 66-year-old Nyota Koya died following an encounter with Sterling on November 17, 2024. Koya had been stranded in her car in the Haggin Oaks Golf Course parking lot when Sterling responded to a trespassing report.
Bodycam footage shows Sterling offering to help Koya, who was reportedly unable to move easily due to swollen ankles and a malfunctioning vehicle. Over two hours after Sterling's initial contact, he pulled Koya from her car. Koya expressed distress, stating, "I’m 66, baby. I’ve got to get this together. I can’t even hardly put on my shoes." Sterling can be heard asking, "Can we hurry up?" and later stating they would be going to jail.
Koya responded with expletives and shut her car door. Sterling then opened the door, forcibly removed her from the vehicle, and pushed her face down onto the road, placing his knee on her back before handcuffing her. Koya was then placed in a police car, where she lost consciousness. Paramedics later arrived to find she had no pulse. She was transported to Mercy San Juan Medical Center, where she died a week later.
The lawsuit includes screenshots from the bodycam footage that appear to show Sterling smiling as he knelt over Koya. The medical examiner ruled Koya's death to be from complications of pulmonary thromboembolism, classifying it as a natural death. However, Koya's daughter, Nathifa Wright, stated that the day after her mother was hospitalized, she was informed of a 0.001 percent chance of survival.
Wright, who described her mother as "her world," has filed the civil lawsuit seeking damages for 17 claims, including excessive force and wrongful death. Officer Matthew Sterling remains employed by the Sacramento Police Department.