NBC 7 s Rory Devine shares witness video of an arrest in a La Jolla intersection.
The Police Department has announced an internal investigation into the arrest.
According to SDPD officials, the two officers, whose names have not been released, contacted Evans in the 4100 block of Torrey Pines Road about 9 a.m. Wednesday after seeing him urinating outdoors.
On Friday, Evans denied publicly urinating in the coastal neighborhood near Scripps Institution of Oceanography, though he admitted that he was preparing to when the lawmen approached.
While saying he forgave the officers for what happened, Evans, who had a bandage over his left eye, spoke of a need for better relations between police and the homeless population.
Man involved in violent arrest speaks out
The man at the center of a controversial arrest is sharing his story after cell phone video shows San Diego Police officers punching him during an arrest in La Jolla Author: Heather Hope (Reporter) Updated: 6:37 PM PDT May 14, 2021
SAN DIEGO Speaking with a band-aid on his cheek and with an injury to his eye, Jesse Evans shares what he said happened to him while he was physically arrested by San Diego Police Wednesday morning. The true story is I didn t even get to pee because they came around the corner, I unclipped my pants, I was going to pee anyway, but you can t pee right here. They were talking about indecent exposure,” Jesse said.
SAN DIEGO
San Diego police officers repeatedly punched a man in the face, head and leg after tackling him to the ground Wednesday morning in La Jolla, according to a witness who recorded the incident and posted it on Instagram.
Nicole Bansal said it happened about 9 a.m. at La Jolla Village Drive and Torrey Pines Road. She recognized the man being pummeled by officers as someone she believes to be homeless who frequents the area.
“It’s so excessive and unnecessary,” Bansal said of what she witnessed and recorded on her cellphone.
San Diego Police Department spokesman Lt. Shawn Takeuchi wrote in a statement late Wednesday that the incident began over the 34-year-old man ignoring officers who contacted him about urinating in public. Takeuchi said department officials are aware of the cellphone video and the internal affairs unit is investigating the incident, including reviewing body-worn camera footage.
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – An internal investigation was underway Thursday into a bystander-videotaped arrest during which San Diego Police Department personnel tackled and repeatedly punched a homeless man on a La Jolla thoroughfare.
The internet-posted images of the officers’ protracted struggle to detain the man in the 4100 block of Torrey Pines Road on Wednesday morning prompted dismay on social media, along with a sharp rebuke and call for accountability from the local branch of the NAACP.
“We have been made aware of a disturbing incident … involving the brutal handling of a member of our community,” Francine Maxwell, president of the San Diego branch of the civil rights organization, wrote in a letter to SDPD Chief David Nisleit. “We are deeply saddened and angered to see the San Diego Police Department act with such violence against someone who presented no apparent risk to anyone.”