Video of SFPD Shooting Fleeing Man Doesn't Prove Self-Defense, Expert Says

Video that appears to show San Francisco police fatally shooting a man who was running away in the Tenderloin this week does not on its own show enough evidence to justify lethal force, according to a criminal law expert.

Officers were responding to an armed robbery before the shooting, according to the San Francisco Police Department. In the video from a neighbor’s security camera, obtained by the San Francisco Standard, the man is seen running away after a brief encounter with police. One officer yells “stop” before firing four shots, and the man collapses to the ground.

The man, whom police have still not identified, died at a hospital. It’s the first fatal shooting by San Francisco police so far this year.

In a statement, SFPD said the man wielded a gun, and the Standard reported that a source with knowledge of the incident said the man pointed it at an officer.

According to Stanford criminal law expert Robert Weisberg, the video alone is too ambiguous to prove the officers acted in self-defense or that the suspect had a gun at all.

“It could be that they found a gun on him, ultimately, but it’s going to be hard to prove that he ever actually aimed it at the police,” he said. “I don’t think the video reveals that.”

The video shows the man briefly turn around toward the officers before he continues running away. In a tweet, the San Francisco Police Officers Association suggested the man fired at the officers at that moment and that they acted in self-defense.

“When the officer fires, we can see the muzzle flash after the first shot, and the sound of the officer’s firearm is distinctly different than the subject’s firearm,” the POA wrote.

Even if the man did have a gun and shot it at the officer, there’s still the question of why the officer shot him while he was running away, Weisberg said.

“It’s possible that the suspect was the one being accused of the robbery,” he said. “And under most state laws and in California law, even if the officer reasonably inferred that the suspect had committed a felony and was running away to avoid arrest, the officer still could not use deadly force unless something in the circumstances indicated that the suspect, even in running away, posed a threat of deadly force to other people.”

The facts are still unclear based on the video, Weisberg said.

The shooting is still under investigation by various agencies, including the District Attorney’s Office, the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office and the Department of Police Accountability. None of the agencies responded to a request for further comment. The department plans to hold a town hall within the week.

KQED’s Christopher Alam contributed to this report.