SJ police officers under investigation after video shows them punching, restraining unhoused man
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- San Jose police are investigating an encounter captured on video of officers holding down and punching an unhoused man who was accused of indecent exposure.
Cellphone video shows a San Jose officer repeatedly hitting the man while trying to restrain him.
Dominic C recorded the video on Monday night off Fruitdale Avenue.
"And you could hear those punches like as if they were right next to me," C said.
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Police say the man bit an officer as they tried to arrest him.
They were responding to a report of indecent exposure, an unhoused man masturbating the day before.
Dominic felt like the response from officers was too much.
"You're not in hand-to-hand combat to where you have to punch someone like that," C said.
In Dominic's video, you can see his neighbor, Jennette Holzworth come out of her home.
She started recording too. All of this was happening next to her driveway.
"They tried to shoo me back and I was like 'I'm standing in my yard you can't make me move.' I just saw someone getting hurt and I was like this is not appropriate," Holzworth said.
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You can hear an officer approach Holzworth.
"You're right to have questions about how we do this but fortunately we know what we're doing, and we're trying to be as professional as possible," the officer said.
San Jose police told us "the suspect's active resistance prompted a use of force incident to occur."
This comes as the city begins an aggressive crackdown on homelessness, where authorities will start arresting people who refuse multiple offers of shelter.
"We're in the middle of these conversations about whether or not criminalization is really happening, but then you see this kind of response and then you say OK - this is really where all that rhetoric is leading us," Holzworth said.
"Our proactive department investigates all use of force cases to ensure our officers followed the law, and this incident is already being reviewed," said Mayor Matt Mahan.
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The mayor added, "The suspect should have been indoors and in care, not exposing himself in a neighborhood."
The San Jose Silicon Valley NAACP filed a formal complaint for excessive force saying the responding officers were unprofessional and exhibited "dehumanizing behavior."
In one video officers made remarks on the man's hygiene.
"Human bites get more infected than dog bites, anything they're disgusting," one officer could be heard saying.
The NAACP plans to hold a press conference regarding the March 10 incident.
The San Jose Silicon Valley NAACP has received multiple complaints regarding this incident, including concerns about racial bias. The San Jose Police Department has a troubling history of disproportionately using force against Black and Brown populations, exhibiting excessive force and inhumane treatment toward individuals who are unhoused and mentally ill. The excessive force used while multiple officers restrained Oscar, whose ability to resist was obstructed by his clothing, underscores the disparity of force applied by the officers present. Additionally, there was force was used while Oscar was handcuffed and restrained, which is a blatant violation of use of force laws.
"I'd like it to shine a light on how - the way we talk about people impacts the way we treat them," Holzworth said.
