Attorney: Man Shot By San Jose Police During Restaurant Brawl a Hero For Disarming Gunman
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) – The attorney for a man shot and wounded by a San Jose police officer during a wild brawl at a downtown restaurant early Sunday morning is calling his client a hero.
Civil rights attorney Adante Pointer said security camera video released by the police department only tells part of the story and is a self-serving attempt to assassinate his client's character after injuring him in an unjustified shooting.
"My client sprung into action," Pointer said. "He was a hero. He disarmed this man."
The video released Tuesday shows that 20-year-old K'aun Green was a customer at La Victoria Taqueria as a fight breaks out between two groups. One person pulls out a gun and Green is seen wrestling the gun away from him.
When officers arrived, the McClymonds High School grad and former football star was shot in the abdomen, arm and leg. He was recovering at a hospital Wednesday.
"He has the gun at his side, he's backing out, he has the gun pointed up in the air, which is what the video shows, and unbeknownst to him police are behind him," said attorney Adante Pointer.
San Jose police said the officers were responding to a chaotic situation just minutes after a fatal shooting less than a block away in which the gunman was not located. Chief Anthony Mata said officers knew the man coming out of the restaurant was holding a gun and did not drop it when commands were given.
"What was presented to the officer was a man with a firearm who was a threat to the people inside the restaurant and possibly to the officers who were outside as well," said Mata.
Pointer said the officer did not give Green an opportunity to comply to commands.
"Right after the words come out of the officers' mouths, they're firing and he's shot," said Pointer. "He was never given any time to comply, to say anything to the officers, drop a gun."
Police released a single still body camera image to support their argument that green was armed, and said the full officer body cam video would be released within 45 days as prescribed by law.
"It's pretty self-serving for them to introduce a portion of a video and a single still image from a video and say, 'Look, this is what happened and this is why it happened.' without releasing the rest of the information," said civil rights attorney Jaime Leanos.
Mata acknowledged that Green may have been shot from behind.
"We're still looking into where he was shot," said Mata. "It looks like from the video that his back was towards us. But again, that's something that we have to take a look at."
Civil rights organizations say by only releasing a still frame from the officer bodycam video they fear the police department is putting a finger on the scales of justice.
"If they want an objective review, they can't try to sculpt the narrative which they clearly tried to do," said Silicon Valley DeBug CEO Raj Jayadev. "This was PR, that's all that was."
The person who originally brought the gun to the restaurant and brandished it during the fight was identified as 30-year-old Brian Carter. He was arrested for being a felon in possession of a privately-made firearm.
Green will not face any charges while the officer who shot him has been placed on administrative leave as the incident is investigated.
KPIX 5 Reporter Devin Fehely contributed to report
