SAN JOSE, CA – San Jose’s approach to homelessness has come under renewed scrutiny after a viral video surfaced this past week showing a police officer repeatedly striking an elderly homeless man during an arrest on March 10, according to reporting by The Mercury News.
The video, captured by residents on Fruitdale Avenue, shows multiple officers subduing the man, identified only as Oscar, while one officer delivers repeated blows, said the Mercury News, noting advocates argue this violent encounter is a direct result of the city’s increasingly punitive homelessness policies.
Jennette Holzworth, a resident who filmed the incident, has filed an internal affairs complaint against the San Jose Police Department, citing the city’s “dangerous and hostile rhetoric” toward the unhoused as a factor in the officers’ response, the Mercury News said.
Holzworth told the Mercury News Oscar had been staying in the neighborhood wrapped in a tarp and that she had not witnessed any threatening behavior leading up to the arrest.
Holzworth blamed San Jose’s recent policies, including a proposal to criminalize refusing shelter, for fostering an environment that encourages aggressive policing of the unhoused, charging in an email to Mayor Matt Mahan, “This language has emboldened threats against the unhoused, facilitating responses like what the officers took on this man,” reported the Mercury News.
San Jose police claim officers responded after a resident called 911, alleging the man had exposed himself the day before and was trespassing, said the Mercury News, and when police arrived, Oscar reportedly attempted to flee and bit an officer, which the department claims justified the use of force.
The man was booked into Santa Clara County Jail on charges of indecent exposure, resisting arrest, and battery on an officer, according to the department’s statement to The Mercury News.
Sean Allen, President of the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP, has also filed a formal complaint, calling for an investigation into possible criminal violations.
In a statement obtained by the Mercury News, Allen condemned the incident as another example of excessive force against marginalized communities, insisting San Jose police have a “troubling history of disproportionately using force against Black and Brown populations, exhibiting excessive force and inhumane treatment toward individuals who are unhoused and mentally ill.”
Mayor Mahan defended the city’s policies while acknowledging that the incident is under review. In a statement provided to The Mercury News, Mahan emphasized that Oscar should have been in treatment rather than on the streets.
“The suspect should have been indoors and in care, not exposing himself in a neighborhood,” Mahan stated. He added San Jose needs to implement stronger measures to push “service-resistant” unhoused individuals into treatment programs.
San Jose has recently intensified its efforts to curb homelessness through controversial initiatives, including expanding bans on sleeping on sidewalks and increasing encampment sweeps, according to the community’s statement.
Last week, Mahan introduced a proposal that would make it a criminal offense to refuse available shelter, allowing the city to charge individuals with trespassing after three refusals.
Mahan has framed the policy as a middle ground between allowing street encampments and more aggressive enforcement methods, citing data that 32 percent of unhoused residents refused space at a newly-opened interim housing site, as reported by The Mercury News.
Criminalizing homelessness does little to address the root causes of the crisis and exacerbates tensions between law enforcement and the unhoused community, as noted by Destination: Home CEO Jen Loving, speaking to The Mercury News, adding the incident is a “byproduct of the continued “riling up the town square’ rhetoric against homeless residents and the increasingly negative perception of them.
“This assault is just another reason why we should be concerned about the city’s push to arrest more unhoused individuals,” Loving said. “Being homeless is not a crime, and our community has nowhere near enough safe options for people who are simply trying to survive,” she told The Mercury News.
Holzworth echoed these concerns, urging Mahan to reconsider San Jose’s approach to homelessness, telling The Mercury News, “You have the opportunity to be Netflix instead of Blockbuster; Apple instead of Nokia. It requires releasing outdated and ineffective approaches to the issue of homelessness.”
“San Jose has recently intensified its efforts to curb homelessness”
Today San Jose, tomorrow: Davis!!!
“through controversial initiatives”
Controversial — yay! More controversy!
“including expanding bans on sleeping on sidewalks and increasing encampment sweeps”
Excellent.
“Last week, Mahan introduced a proposal that would make it a criminal offense to refuse available shelter, allowing the city to charge individuals with trespassing after three refusals.”
Did you hear that? Refuse. Available. Shelter. Refuse. Available. Shelter. Refuse. Available. Shelter.
“32 percent of unhoused residents refused space at a newly-opened interim housing site”
I’ve heard much higher number reported from other cities.
“Criminalizing homelessness does little to address the root causes of the crisis”
Criminalizing murder also does little to address the root causes of murder. But it does help get the murders off the streets, and make the public safer — although I’m sure DG will come up with some evidence-based evidence that shows otherwise.
“and exacerbates tensions between law enforcement and the unhoused community”
I don’t use that term, but I’m not sure that ‘level of tension’ is something to be decreased for some reason.
“the increasingly negative perception of them.”
I think they do a pretty good job of that themselves, speaking of the visible street people who leave piles and loose garbage around instead of cleaning up after themselves. You know what would increase my perception of you? Stop trashing our neighborhoods, arseholes!
“Being homeless is not a crime, and our community has nowhere near enough safe options for people who are simply trying to survive,”
Um . . . do you all even listen to yourselves or even consider that maybe logic isn’t just a trait of white supremacy but actual useful to everyone? Yes, being homeless is not a crime. Crimes are crimes. And pubic safety is paramount, includiing the safety of street people, who are not all that safe on the street. They said: Refuse. Available. Shelter. AVAILABLE. I’m not even sure they have to make it available anymore, but that’s what it says here. So if shelter is available and being refused at a rate of 32%, how does that square with ‘nowhere near enough safe options’ ? Are you saying that the available housing isn’t safe? How about crimes committed by street people? Isn’t the safety of the victims of these crimes a safety issue, I would argue a paramount safety issue.