SANTA CLARA COUNTY — The Santa Clara County District Attorney has cleared an officer of any wrongdoing who shot and killed a mentally ill, suicidal and unarmed man in March, the DA announced Thursday.
Jesus Geney-Montes, 24, was shot and killed by a police officer in Santa Clara on March 9 after stabbing himself and telling officers he was going to shoot at them, the DA said.
The DA also released 10 minutes of police body camera footage of the incident.
Officer Colin Stewart, a 13-year law enforcement veteran, was one of the officers who responded to a call at 5:09 p.m. reporting that Geney-Montes had cut himself in the chest with a knife and barricaded himself in his bedroom on Deborah Drive off of Monroe Street.
The caller also said that Geney-Montes had a handgun, police said.
Arriving officers learned that Geney-Montes had fled out of a bedroom window, but found him along a retaining wall next to the nearby train tracks.
Geney-Montes threatened to shoot the officers and himself and refused medical aid offered to him by officers trained in crisis communication.
Police used a stun gun, which police said proved ineffective. Geney-Montes refused to show his hands and moved toward Stewart, who shot and killed him.
Police did not find a weapon near Geney-Montes but discovered a bloody knife along the path where he had been running.
“Seeing Geney-Montes charging towards him and believing his life was in danger, Officer Stewart chose to defend himself by discharging his weapon,” prosecutor Carolyn Powell wrote in a report. “Under the facts, circumstances and applicable law in this matter, Officer Colin Stewart’s use of force was in response to an objectively reasonable belief that he was facing an immediate threat of great bodily injury or death.”
KRON4 News spoke to Geney-Montes’ mother after the shooting. She believes that Santa Clara should be held responsible for his death and filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city.
Source: http://kron4.com/2017/11/02/bodycam-video-da-clears-santa-clara-officer-who-shot-killed-unarmed-man/