Bodycam Footage Fuels Claims Of Police Brutality In San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — San Francisco officers punched, kicked, and knelt on the head and neck of a man who repeatedly said he could not breathe, according to the Public Defender’s Office, which released bodycam footage Thursday and accused prosecutors of trying to keep key evidence from jurors.

The Oct. 8 release escalated the office’s challenge to the arrest and prosecution of Kevon Gibson, 33, who spent several days in intensive care after the August 2025 encounter, according to his attorneys.

The attorneys alleged that Gibson was so brutally injured during the arrest that doctors had to medically induce him into a coma.

Jurors acquitted Gibson in September of three felony counts of resisting arrest, but convicted him of three misdemeanor resisting arrest counts and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Prosecutors dismissed criminal threat charges during the trial, according to the Public Defender’s Office.

Two Versions Of One Arrest

The two offices offered sharply different accounts of the arrest and verdict.

In an Aug. 19 announcement, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins thanked police and witnesses after announcing the convictions.

Her office said Gibson fought officers who tried to search him and that police found a loaded, unregistered 9 mm Glock in his right pocket.

“Compliance with our gun laws, especially for convicted felons, is not optional,” Jenkins said.

Gibson’s attorneys said the announcement omitted the beating, his lasting injuries, the felony acquittals, and the dismissal of the threat charges.

“SFPD officers brutally beat Mr. Gibson as he screamed for help,” said Deputy Public Defender Bonnie Chan-Silen.

Chan-Silen and John Paul Passaglia are representing Gibson.

“Instead of holding these police officers accountable, the DA’s Office tried to hide key evidence from the jury and then misled the public by thanking the officers for their actions," Chan-Silen said.

'I'm Scared Right Now'

The encounter began Aug. 17, 2025, at a Sixth Street apartment building, where Gibson had been staying to help care for a friend, according to the Public Defender’s Office.

A resident confronted and threatened Gibson, then called police and accused Gibson of threatening him, the office said.

During a police interview, the resident used a racial slur and threatened to stab Gibson and watch him bleed, according to the defenders and footage they released.

The resident called police again after Gibson returned to the unit where he was staying and ran past the resident’s door to avoid a confrontation, the office said.

Responding officers Brendan Caraway, Brian Conway and Gabriel Rivera initially believed Gibson was inside his friend’s apartment. The public defenders said officers pounded on her door, mocked Gibson’s first name, and referred to him as her “big ass boyfriend.”

Footage released by the office also shows officers smiling and laughing as they falsely told the woman her father had sent them, said they had drugs for her, and said “no one would care” if they kicked down her door, according to the attorneys.

When officers learned Gibson was in an elevator down the hall, they rushed toward him, the office said. Officers told him he was not under arrest and that they would not pull him from the elevator, but two immediately grabbed his wrist and began pulling him out, the public defender's office said.

Gibson repeatedly asked officers to listen before they slammed him to the ground, punched his head, kicked him, knelt on his head and neck, and held him by his hair, according to the public defender's office.

The attorneys said Gibson pleaded with officers to stop, repeatedly said he could not breathe, and told them he was “scared to death.” Officers told him to shut up, according to their account.

The office released bodycam footage of the arrest.

After his hospitalization, Gibson spent the next year in jail while facing charges, according to his defense. The DA’s Aug. 19 news release said he was out of custody and listed sentencing for Aug. 26.

The Public Defender's Office also accused officers of falsely reporting that Gibson assaulted them. One claimed Gibson bit him, another said Gibson punched his head and wrapped a radio cord around his neck, and a third said Gibson nearly broke his thumb, according to the office.

The attorneys said bodycam and surveillance footage contradicted those accounts.

They also challenged the conduct of the DA’s Independent Investigations Bureau, which investigates suspected excessive force. Bureau staff woke Gibson at the hospital to interview him, then gave their notes to prosecutors, according to the Public Defender’s Office.

Officers’ Work 'To Keep This City Safe'

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Jimenez offered to dismiss the felony resisting arrest charges through a plea agreement, the attorneys said. The agreement required a Harvey waiver that they said could have weakened Gibson’s potential civil claims against police. Gibson rejected it.

During the trial, prosecutors resisted disclosing evidence of the complainant’s violence and racism until a judge ordered its release, the Public Defender's Office said.

After Jimenez dismissed the threat charges, defense attorneys called the complainant as a witness. They said Jimenez tried to block his testimony.

The public attorneys also said Jimenez sought to show jurors arrest footage without audio. The judge granted a defense request to present the footage with sound, including Gibson’s pleas, the officers’ comments outside his friend’s apartment, and the complainant’s threats.

Gibson plans to appeal the firearm conviction, according to his attorneys. He contends he possessed the gun temporarily because he feared the complainant would attack him.

In the DA’s announcement, Jimenez said the verdict recognized officers’ work “to keep this city safe by keeping illegally possessed firearms off the streets.”

Public Defender Mano Raju said his office would pursue accountability.

The office plans to file a complaint with the San Francisco Department of Police Accountability and notify the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to seek the officers’ decertification.