By Claudia Gutierrez
SAN JOSE – Video footage of a woman being kicked and dragged in a McDonald’s parking lot in San Jose has led to a San Jose police officer being placed on administrative leave.
The incident occurred on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, and was captured on video by Josh Gil, who is a San Jose resident and was picking up a DoorDash order at the same time that the incident occurred.
The video shows the woman kneeling outside of her car in the McDonald’s parking lot and one of the two police officers kicking her in the stomach, dragging her across the parking lot, and then proceeding to place handcuffs on her. According to Gil, the police officer gave her “an unnecessary spartan kick to the stomach.”
Another woman is seen in the passenger seat of the car along with two kids in the backseat. The woman and children can be heard screaming in the video, while the second police officer walks up to their car with what appears to be a gun in his hand. The second officer is heard telling the woman in the passenger seat to “shut up” and demands that they “get out of the car.”
Meanwhile, the first police officer is seen holding the woman down on the hood of the police vehicle with handcuffs on.
In the background of the video, several bystanders in the parking lot can be heard screaming in anger and frustration over the police officers’ actions. Gil, who was recording the whole time is heard saying, “he f—ing hit her for no reason, he hit her for no reason.”
Gil also told the San Jose Spotlight that “he had to leave to deliver his DoorDash food, and did not see how the confrontation ended” but also mentioned that “neither of the officers gave their name or badge number when asked to.”
The San Jose Police Department has stated that the officer primarily involved in the video was placed on administrative leave on Friday, July 24, 2020, and is pending an internal affairs investigation of the incident.
However, it is unknown which officer was placed on leave and the names of the two police officers involved have not been disclosed.
The San Jose PD released this statement: “Officers used force during the arrest after the suspect failed to comply with their commands. The department has initiated an internal investigation into this incident.”
The woman was arrested for driving on a suspended license, resisting arrest, and possession of drug paraphernalia. According to the San Jose Spotlight, Sgt. Enrique Garcia of the San Jose Police Department reported that “officers had obtained a seizure warrant for the vehicle after it evaded officers on July 18 and July 22.”
In an interview with KPIX 5 news, LaDoris Cordell, a former judge and independent police auditor for the city of San Jose, said that this incident “is not about, in my view, a bad apple; this is about a bad culture” and also charged that this incident is a prime example of the use of excessive force by a police officer.
The Mayor of San Jose, Sam Liccardo, said, “It’s important for us to understand, for the public to understand fully what exactly happened. That being said, it’s not obvious that that justifies the use of force that we see in this video.” He has since asked the San Jose Police Department to immediately release the bodycam footage of the McDonald’s incident for further investigation.
In San Jose, there continue to be various investigations on police conduct. In addition, the San Jose District Attorney’s Office has recently announced that it is forming a new group within their office to oversee police investigations on the recurring events in San Jose, similar to the McDonald’s incident.
To sign up for our new newsletter – Everyday Injustice – https://tinyurl.com/yyultcf9
