DA releases video of shooting by police officer

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis on Tuesday released a copy of a video that captured the controversial fatal shooting of a man in the Midway district by a San Diego police officer April 30, footage that has been kept secret by authorities since the incident.

The surprise release by Dumanis, who ruled last month that the shooting of Fridoon Rawshan Nehad by officer Neal Browder was legaly justified, came during a 50-minute news conference, where she also released other selected materials from the investigation into Nehad’s shooting

The additional materials included audio and a transcript of police dispatch recordings and security camera video from an adult book store where Nehad was minutes before the encounter. She also released body camera footage from another police officer who sprinted to Nehad as he lay bleeding in an alley off Hancock Street.

Dumanis said she was taking the extraordinary step of releasing the materials because showing only the video — which The San Diego Union-Tribune and other media outlets went to court to gain release — would not provide a complete view of what happened when Nehad was shot.

“The community should have the ability to weigh the video alongside other evidence that provides a more complete picture of what happened,” she said.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis guides the media through the surveillance video of the officer-involved shooting in the Midway District that has been the subject of media requests and is connected to a pending civil suit. — Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune

(Nelvin C. Cepeda)

Dumanis did not release all of the materials in the investigation, however. She did not provide a copy of the entire statement that Browder made to investigators, for example — a document that news organizations have also sought. “We put together everything we believe is appropriate,” she said.

Lawyers for the Nehad family said in a statement the news conference and selective release of information was one-sided and that the shooting could have been avoided.

“She is trying to get ahead of the story,” said Louis R. “Skip” Miller, the lawyer for Nehad’s family. “She must be very insecure of her decision not to prosecute to go to these extreme lengths to justify the shooting.”

The 42-year old Nehad, who suffered from mental illness and was homeless, was shot once around midnight on April 30. Police had been sent to the area in response to a 911 call from an employee of a bookstore who said Nehad had a knife and was threatening people.

Browder, a 27-year SDPD veteran, said he fired after Nehad ignored commands to stop, and to drop the knife.

Nehad did not have a knife, however. Police later said he was holding a blue pen in his hand. Despite an exhaustive search, they never recovered a knife, but did find a sheath. A security camera from another business was part of the material Dumanis released. That showed Nehad slipping what Dumanis said was the sheath in between a pile of sandbags before the fatal encounter with Browder.

Dumanis on Nov. 9 concluded the shooting was justified. Now, a federal inquiry from the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office in San Diego is underway, Dumanis said Tuesday. In a statement U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy confirmed the shooting is under review but declined to comment further.

The key portion of the video depicts Nehad walking slowly up the alley. The pen is in his right hand. Dumanis showed an enhanced segment of that portion of the video, which showed how Nehad twirled — or as she said “manipulated” — the object between his fingers.

She said that was similar to how people with butterfly knives flick the weapon about, and even showed a segment from what appeared to be a YouTube video of an unidentified person handling such a knife.

The actual shooting happens quite fast on the security video. Browder pulls his police car into the alley and parks. Nehad comes into the frame, walking down the alley into the glare of the cruiser’s headlights. Browder opens his door and gets out. Nehad continues to move forward.

The light bar that sits atop police vehicles is not on or flashing.

Then there’s a muzzle flash and Nehad falls to the ground, writhing. Browder immediately runs to him and begins giving him aid.

Dumanis said that witnesses said Nehad didn’t obey commands to stop and was continuing to advance on Browder. She said he was 17 feet away.

Miller, the lawyer for the Nehad family, disputed that. He said Nehad was 26 feet away from Browder when he was shot.

The shooting was captured on the security camera of a nearby business, but the city had turned down requests from local media for release of the footage, citing an ongoing investigation into the shooting. Nehad’s family filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court and got a copy of the video — but did so only under the terms of a protective order that barred them from disseminating the video.

Last week a federal judge, ruling on a motion brought by The San Diego Union-Tribune and five other local media organization, lifted that order. The judge stayed that ruling for week — it expires Wednesday — to allow appeals.

Dumanis said at the news conference that neither the city nor Browder, who has his own lawyer paid for by the city, were planning to appeal the ruling. The DA had declined to release the video when she announced her decision not to prosecute Browder, a decision she said Tuesday was done out of deference to the court order.

But with the ruling to lift that order, Dumanis said there was no longer any reason to keep the video secret. “We are doing what we believe is the appropriate thing for the responsible release of the video,” she said.

Miller, the lawyer for the family, said that Dumanis was attempting to justify her decision not to prosecute what he termed “a very bad shooting.”

In a statement released through Miller, the Nehad family said they wanted the shooting investigated by federal authorities “and turn the lights on about what really happened so it never happens again.”

Last month Dumanis said the shooting was reasonable because Browder believed Nehad was armed and was an “imminent threat” to him.

Ed Obayashi, a former San Diego police officer and county public defender, said after reviewing the materials released Tuesday, he believes Dumanis’ made the correct decision not to charge Browder.

“Based on everything that I’m hearing and reading and seeing today, this was not an unreasonable use of force under the circumstances,” said Obayashi, who now is legal adviser to sheriff departments in the state and an expert on use of force,

Obayashi said that the key portion of the video is the moment just before the shooting. Dumanis said that it shows Nehad continuing to advance, but the family lawyers say instead it shows him slowing his pace and coming to a stop.

“There’s going to be an argument there — he’s not running toward the officer. Is he coming to a stop and slowing down?” Obayashi said.

At the news conference Dumanis also announced that she and other law enforcement agency chiefs are working on a new protocol for the release of video evidence in officer involved shootings. The group includes herself, Sheriff Bill Gore, San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman and Duffy.

The group is deciding when and how to release videos of shootings in the future. That marks a significant departure in past practices locally. She did not provide a time frame for when those new procedures would be in place.