Bodycam video shows San Francisco officers beating suspect; Public Defender’s Office claims police, DA misconduct
By Carlos E. Castañeda
The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office released police body camera video on Thursday showing officers beating a suspect last year, leaving him hospitalized and in intensive care, and accused officers and prosecutors of misconduct.
The violent arrest happened on Aug. 17, 2025, at an apartment on Sixth Street in the city’s South of Market area. The video shows officers approaching 33-year-old Kevon Gibson at an elevator, telling him to step out and that he was not under arrest. However, the officers immediately grab Gibson as he begins screaming and is taken to the ground.
During the struggle which continues for several minutes, each of the police officers is seen repeatedly punching and kicking Gibson, kneeling on his head, and pulling his hair. Gibson is heard yelling out that he can’t breathe during the struggle, and officers are also heard accusing Gibson of biting them.
According to the Public Defender’s Office, officers falsely claimed that Gibson had assaulted them by biting, punching, and wrapping a radio cord around an officer’s neck, claims later refuted by video evidence.
Gibson spent several days in the ICU before he was booked on charges of illegally possessing a gun and felony resisting arrest. Gibson was convicted of unlawful gun possession and misdemeanor resisting arrest for not exiting the elevator, but the jury acquitted him of felony resisting arrest.
The Public Defender’s Office said that despite the jury rejecting the officers’ claims of assault, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins released a public statement acknowledging the officers’ arrest while omitting any mention of excessive force, Gibson’s hospitalization, or the dropped felony charges. The office also alleged that the DA’s Office tried to hide key evidence from the jury, and accused the officers involved of ignoring racist threats against Gibson by the original complainant, taunting one of Gibson’s neighbors, and mocking the pronunciation of his name.
“This was an egregious case where our client was violated legally, and there was a misrepresentation of what happened in the trial, and I think San Franciscans want to know the truth about what happened,” Public Defender Mano Raju said in a statement. “And it’s our job as defenders to reveal truth and demand justice. Because there was a misrepresentation, the conduct was so egregious. We felt it incumbent upon us to let the community know, and the jurors were very, very upset with the misrepresentation of what happened in this case.”
The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office has not yet responded to a CBS News Bay Area request for a response to the claims as of Thursday afternoon.
The Public Defender’s Office said it plans to file formal complaints against the DA’s Office with the San Francisco Department of Police Accountability and seek the decertification of the officers involved through the state’s Commission of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).
Gibson plans to appeal his conviction for unlawful gun possession, contending that he possessed the gun only out of necessity due to fear of the original complainant.
