A San Diego Police Department police dog attacks Marcus Evans immediately after he’s shot with a beanbag round. (Screengrab from video shot by 619 News Media.)
Seven years after California’s landmark police transparency laws went into effect, FAC is still fighting for public disclosure of records about shootings and use of force.
California law requires disclosure of records related to any discharge of a firearm at a person by a peace officer or any use of force by an officer that results in great bodily injury, regardless of whether the shooting or force complied with law or policy. But these laws don’t enforce themselves, and public agencies throughout California have often ignored or defied them.
Recently, we filed motions in two cases that show how some local governments continue to resist police transparency, despite the state legislature’s findings that secrecy undermines public trust in law enforcement.
In San Diego, we moved to compel disclosure of videos and other records documenting the police department’s controversial use of force against Marcus Evans, who was badly injured when officers fired three beanbag shotgun rounds at him and deployed a police dog that mauled his arm. The city paid Evans $875,000 to settle a civil lawsuit, but it refused to release all of its police records about the incident. We argue the records must be disclosed for two reasons.
First, officers discharged a firearm at Evans when they used a 12-gauge shotgun to fire the beanbag rounds at him. “Beanbag” is a euphemism for rounds made of lead shot encased in a cloth sack. Although sometimes called “less lethal,” these projectiles can cause serious injury or even death. In Evans’s case, they caused trauma to his torso and a gash to his leg that exposed his shinbone.
Second, officers caused Evans to suffer great bodily injury when they deployed a police dog that bit and held his arm, inflicting multiple deep puncture wounds that required the removal of dead tissue and surgery. His injuries are comparable to if not more severe than those discussed in cases where courts have found the evidence sufficient to establish great bodily injury.
In Vallejo, on behalf of the Vallejo Sun, we are seeking to compel full disclosure of all videos related to the police shooting of Alexander Schumann, who was in apparent mental distress at an apartment complex. Although the city disclosed selected footage at a town hall meeting, it has not released all footage from all officers or vehicles on the scene, despite questions about the information available to officers when they arrived and their approach to de-escalation. The city also blurred the faces of uniformed officers on the scene.
The city contends it can withhold the videos until pending criminal charges against Schumann are resolved, but the law invoked by the Vallejo Sun, which specifically requires agencies to disclose video recordings of police shootings, contains no such exception. Nor does it allow agencies to blur the faces of uniformed officers operating in public.
These are only two instances of local agencies undermining California’s mandate for public disclosure about police shootings and significant uses of force. As it has done for years, FAC continues to defend the people’s right to transparency in law enforcement.