By Robert Salonga
Bay Area News Group
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Authorities have released body-camera video excerpts of a harrowing gunfight in downtown San Jose in January that left a police officer shot in the head by a gunman — suspected in several carjackings, robberies and other police shootouts that day — who was later shot multiple times, then run over by a police SUV.
The police department quietly posted the video clips and an accompanying narrative Sunday. The largest revelations from the release — distributed ahead of a 45-day state deadline for public disclosure — are arguably from the vantage point of Sgt. Gerardo Silva.
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Silva drove speedily toward the end of a Jan. 21 multi-agency regional police chase of Davis resident Muhamed Husien, and nearly hit Husien as he got out of his carjacked white sedan at Notre Dame Avenue and West Julian Street.
One video clip from Silva’s perspective shows the sergeant bringing his vehicle to a rapid stop and getting out of his SUV, drawing his weapon. He is immediately shot in the hand; as he attempts to gain control of his weapon and fire back at his assailant, he is struck in the head. He grunts and groans in pain as blood spatter suddenly appears on his uniform sleeve. He radios, “I’m shot!” before more shots fly toward him, shattering glass on his vehicle as he fires back at Husien with his service pistol and eventually gets clear of the firefight.
He continues to pursue Husien on foot as the suspect initially tries to commandeer Silva’s vehicle then runs off toward the Highway 87 underpass before he is shot several times by other officers closing in on Husien. Silva then staggers toward other officers who immediately recognize he is wounded and yell, “Hospital! Hospital! Let’s go!”
The other major revelation from the footage release includes another sergeant — not yet publicly identified — who drives toward Husien as he flees toward the overpass, runs over a slumped Husien, then gets out of his police SUV carrying a rifle. He can be heard, as a volley of shots continue 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 shows them similarly getting out of their patrol vehicles and opening fire on Husien as he runs away. Aerial footage and audio from a helicopter officer shows him initially stating that Husien is 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 near 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 driving the SUV dislodged Husien’s gun — a 9mm pistol with an extended 33-round magazine — and that Husien continued to move even after being shot and run over.
Silva, a 13-year SJPD veteran, 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.
Greg Woods , a senior lecturer in criminology, criminal justice and legal studies at San Jose State University , pointed out that the state’s 45-day statutory deadline entails unedited footage, and was critical of SJPD for only releasing a polished video with the potential to sway public opinion.
“It’s well crafted to promote a particular narrative most favorable to law enforcement, but I think it’s also favorable to public trust,” Woods said.
Even then, he added, the context of the shooting, including the carjackings and earlier shootouts, leads him to conclude that “Any officer reasonably would conclude it necessary to respond with that level of deadly force in response to that threat.”
Authorities say Husien, who as a felon was barred from possessing firearms, stole a red Chevrolet Corvette in Sacramento on Jan. 17, with an alleged accomplice, 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, with Macias, at a 7-Eleven on Coleman Avenue in San Jose.
Macias allegedly dropped off Husien at a Capitol Expressway auto dealership in San Jose the afternoon of 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 in those earlier 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.
The deadly force used by the nine SJPD officers is the subject of a joint investigation by the department’s homicide unit and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, monitored by the SJPD internal affairs division, the city attorney’s office and the independent police auditor’s office. That is expected to be followed by a formal shooting report by the DA’s office in the coming months.
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