SAN DIEGO — The body-worn camera footage was jarring: a homeless man eating dinner while standing on a Gaslamp Quarter street corner was shot by San Diego police moments after officers first approached him.
Stephen Wilson, who was 69 when the shooting occurred on the evening of Feb. 25, survived the shooting.
In the video, released in early March, he appeared to remove a kitchen knife from his back pocket and drop it to the ground as police warned him not to touch the weapon.
Now he has filed a legal claim against the San Diego Police Department alleging he was wrongfully injured, and he has retained one of the city's highest-profile attorneys to represent him.
"Claimant was standing near the corner of Third and G in the Gaslamp Quarter, eating some food," states the claim, which was filed by lawyer Michael Marrinan, who has represented people suing local police and sheriff's departments for years.
The San Diego Police Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the legal complaint. A legal claim is required to be filed in advance of any civil lawsuit against a government agency.
In their initial description of the events that led to the shooting, San Diego police said Wilson had threatened officers with the knife.
The assertion was changed after the body-worn camera footage was released nearly a week after the shooting, with police officials saying the additional evidence prompted them to revise the original statement.
The claim alleges numerous violations were committed by officers.
"He was approached by San Diego police officer Kelly Besker and possibly other(s). After brief conversation, Officer Besker shot Claimant three times, without necessity or lawful justification, causing severe injuries," it states. "City and police officer(s) at fault for negligence, battery, excessive force, unlawful seizure and Civil Code 52.1 civil rights violations."
The claim also accused police of employing negligent tactics leading up to the shooting as well as negligent training and supervision.
According to the two-page claim, Wilson is now residing in Oroville, California, a small city in Butte County north of Sacramento. It seeks at least $25,000 in monetary damages for injuries described as severe.
"Claimant was hospitalized for several weeks and has permanent injuries and incurred extensive medical bills," the document states.
The city has a history of paying damages to families injured or killed by San Diego police.
In September, the city agreed to pay almost $10 million to relatives of two men who were killed when an off-duty officer crashed into their disabled car on Interstate 15 in 2018.
Early this year, the City Council agreed to pay $2.5 million to a man who was pepper-sprayed and body-slammed by a San Diego police vice detective in plain clothes back in 2016.
The city is obliged to either pay or reject the claim, and in practice legal claims are routinely denied. Wilson could take his allegations to state or federal court after the city makes a determination on the claim.
