SAN JOSE — The San Jose Police Department has released body camera video excerpts of a harrowing gunfight in downtown San Jose in January in which a police officer was shot and wounded in the head and hand followed by a gunman — suspected in several carjackings, robberies and, earlier that day, other police shootouts — was shot multiple times then run over by a police SUV.
The police department posted the video clips and an accompanying narrative Sunday but had not publicized it as of Monday morning. The largest revelations from the release — meant to comply with a 45-day state deadline for public disclosure — are arguably vantage point of Sgt. Gerardo Silva.
Silva drove speedily toward the terminal point of a Jan. 21 multi-agency regional police chase of Davis resident Muhamed Husien, at Notre Dame Avenue and West Julian Street, and nearly hit Husien as he got out of his carjacked white sedan.
Immediately as Silva got out of his SUV, he was shot in the hand and soon after in the head, grunting and groaning in pain as blood spatter suddenly appeared on his uniform sleeve. He radioed, “I’m shot!” before more shots flew toward him, shattering glass on his vehicle as he fired back at Husien with his service pistol and eventually getting clear of the firefight.
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED | Video contains graphic content: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLERKZrTloA
He continued to pursue Husien on foot as the suspect initially tried to commandeer Silva’s vehicle then ran off toward the Highway 87 underpass, then was shot several times by other officer closing in on Husien. Silva then staggers toward other officers who immediately recognize he was wounded and yell, “Hospital! Hospital! Let’s go!”
The other major revelation from the footage release includes another sergeant — not yet publicly identified — who was driving toward Husien as he ran off toward the overpass, and ran over a slumped Husien, then got out of his police SUV carrying a rifle. He could be heard, as a volley of shots continued sailing toward Husien, yelling “Cease fire!” and “Cross fire!” to warn other officers against inadvertently wounding their own colleagues.
Soon after, the sergeant advances toward a mortally wounded Husien, repeatedly saying, “Don’t (expletive) move!”
Husien, 30, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Other officers’ body camera footage showed them similarly getting out of their patrol vehicles and opening fire on Husien as he ran away. Aerial footage and audio from a helicopter officer shows him initially stating a belief that Husien was trying to carjack another vehicle, apparently unable to verify from his distance that the suspect had been shot. When held up alongside the other footage, it’s clear Husien fell to the ground beside the driver’s side door of a bystander vehicle, possibly giving the aerial officer that impression.
The narrator for the police footage release, Officer Tanya Hernandez, offers additional rationale for why police officers, after Husien was seemingly wounded by an initial volley of gunfire, ran Husien over and continued to fire at him even after that. The optics, initially fueled by eyewitness video, stirred controversy and questions from some police use-of-force experts about the severity and tactics used during the protracted clash.
Hernandez says in the video presentation that the second sergeant hitting Husien with the SUV dislodged his gun, a 9mm pistol with an extended 33-round magazine, and that Husien continued to move even after being shot and run over.
Silva underwent surgery for a skull fracture and was released from the hospital the next day. Three sergeants and six officers were said to have used deadly force in the confrontation, police said.
Authorities say Husien, who as a felon was barred from possessing firearms, stole a red Chevrolet Corvette in Sacramento on Jan. 17, with an accomplice since identified as 29-year-old Santa Nella resident Edward Isaiah Macias. Husien then reportedly committed robberies at an unspecified minimart and at a San Jose liquor store on McKee Road, the latter allegedly at knifepoint.
On Jan. 18, Husien was suspected in additional robberies on the Peninsula and at a 7-Eleven on Coleman Avenue in San Jose and police said in the second instance, Husien and Macias brandished a knife at a clerk and threatened to shoot him.
Macias is reputed to be the person who dropped off Husien at a Capitol Expressway auto dealership in San Jose the afternoon Jan. 21, shortly before someone there called police to report a theft, at gunpoint, of a green Corvette. Husien had been surveilled by police earlier in the day but they lost track of him before he re-surfaced at the car lot.
Husien, now being trailed by a San Jose police helicopter, drove to Hollister, where he got into separate shootouts with Hollister police and San Benito County Sheriff’s deputies, before carjacking another vehicle and heading back to San Jose and getting to the clash that ended with his death, authorities said. As he was pursued, he reportedly shot at California Highway Patrol officers. No one was hit by those bouts of gunfire.
Hours after Husien was shot and killed, Macias was arrested in Los Banos for his alleged involvement in the crimes that preceded the Jan. 21 sequence.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Leave a Reply