SAN JOSE, CA — The City of San Jose has agreed to pay $1 million to the family of David Tovar, an unarmed man fatally shot by police in January 2021 during an attempted arrest in the East Foothills, Mercury News reported.
The settlement, finalized by the San Jose City Council on Tuesday, resolves an excessive force lawsuit filed by Tovar’s family. The lawsuit alleged that the officers’ actions caused Tovar to suffer an “agonizing and torturous death.”
Tovar, 27, had been wanted in connection with multiple violent crimes. His killing drew widespread scrutiny after body camera footage showed officers opening fire within seconds of encountering him. The footage also showed officers unleashing a police dog on him while he was already gravely wounded and lying on a walkway.
According to Mercury News, Officer Topui Fonua released the police dog, which bit and dragged Tovar for nearly three minutes. Officers later determined Tovar was unarmed, having mistaken his cell phone for a firearm.
The case gained renewed attention last September when U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila ruled that the use of the police dog amounted to “excessive force as a matter of law,” removing that element from dispute in any future trial. A memo from City Attorney Nora Frimann cited the ruling as a key factor in the city’s decision to settle.
Plaintiff attorney Patrick Buelna told Mercury News the court’s decision was pivotal in securing the $1 million settlement, even though the city did not admit wrongdoing.
“I think a combination of the settlement, along with the recent court order from the judge that said it was viewed that these officers used excessive force, goes a long way toward helping the family move on from this tragedy,” Buelna said. “You don’t always have something like that from a court—that just says outright that it was excessive force.”
While the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office cleared the three officers involved of criminal wrongdoing, it issued a rare report criticizing their tactics. According to Mercury News, an independent law enforcement review described the covert response unit’s approach as poorly planned and overly aggressive. One expert called the shooting “awful but lawful,” concluding that while the use of force may have been legally justified, it reflected serious lapses in training. Others said the officers may have acted within departmental policy but questioned whether it was necessary to confront Tovar so directly rather than executing a safer arrest.
Public criticism intensified over the rapid escalation and the risk posed to nearby residents. Mercury News reported that the apartment next to Tovar’s was “riddled with bullets” and that police “narrowly avoided” additional casualties.
At the time of his death, Tovar was a suspect in multiple violent incidents, including a fatal shooting in Gilroy on Jan. 3, 2021, another shooting in Morgan Hill that seriously injured a man, and a string of robberies and auto thefts in 2020. Police said they had previously attempted to arrest him on multiple occasions, including after he allegedly told someone he “wanted to kill a police officer.”
On the day of the shooting, covert response unit officers tracked Tovar to an apartment complex. They later claimed they believed he was reaching into his waistband while running along a second-floor walkway.
One officer fired six shots with a rifle, followed by nine more from two other officers. Officer Fonua then unleashed his police dog. Tovar was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Investigators recovered only a cell phone near Tovar’s body and a screwdriver in his pocket. No firearm was found.
Buelna called the resolution “a hard settlement that we believe should have happened sooner.”
“We could never be truly satisfied or happy with the result given that a life was taken,” he said.
As of Wednesday, the San Jose Police Department had not issued a public statement on the settlement. It remains unclear whether any disciplinary action has been taken against the officers involved.
