A lawsuit was announced Thursday seeking records from the city regarding last fall’s arrest of a local videographer whom San Diego police officers shot with beanbag rounds and deployed a police dog upon, all while attorneys say he was unarmed and not resisting.
Officers responding last October to a 911 call at an Encanto-area neighborhood residence encountered Marcus Evans, who was barefoot and wearing only shorts.
While Evans’ attorneys say he had his arms raised and complied with officers’ commands, SDPD alleged Evans was “repeatedly ordered” to surrender, but he didn’t, leading officers to fire three beanbag rounds and deploy a police dog, which bit Evans on the arm.
Evans’ attorneys, who filed a civil rights lawsuit earlier this year against the city and officers involved, alleged in their complaint that Evans was “not exhibiting any signs of active resistance to SDPD instructions and commands” when he was shot.
The attorneys say the incident left him with injuries that included a broken right tibia, bruised ribs, tendon damage and significant injuries to his left arm.
In addition to Evans’ civil rights lawsuit, the First Amendment Coalition announced this week it was filing a separate lawsuit that aims to force the city of San Diego to disclose all public records pertaining to the arrest, such as incident reports and body camera footage.
The organization says it requested public records about Evans’ arrest in March, but received only a redacted call log.
First Amendment Coalition representatives say the city is violating state laws requiring the prompt disclosure of all records connected to police shootings or other police use-of-force incidents.
“Nothing is more important to public trust in government than transparency, especially transparency about use of force by police that involves firearms or causes extensive injuries such as those Mr. Evans suffered,” said David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition.
“The people have the right to the full story, not just the official story, so they can decide for themselves whether officers acted appropriately.”
Evans was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest, but was not ultimately charged with any crimes. While officers responded to a report of a man threatening a woman with a gun, no firearm was found at the scene of the arrest.
Video footage of the arrest, which was captured by a local freelance photographer, led to a formal complaint against the police department, which announced last year that it was launching an internal investigation.
SDPD did not respond to a request for comment on the status of that investigation.
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