A proposed settlement would mark one of the largest police payouts in city history after a young athlete was shot while disarming a gunman, and later learned the officer who pulled the trigger sent racist texts about him.<\/p>\n
What began as an act of courage inside a late-night taqueria may soon end with an $8 million reckoning for the city of San Jose.<\/p>\n
Nearly three years after college football player K\u2019aun Green was shot four times by a San Jose police officer, city officials are poised to approve a settlement that would rank as the second-largest police payout in San Jose history. The recommendation, expected to go before the City Council on Jan. 13, reflects both the severity of Green\u2019s injuries and the troubling conduct later uncovered about the officer who shot him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a young man that deserves every penny that San Jose is finally coughing up,\u201d said Green\u2019s civil rights attorney, Adante Pointer, who called the case a stark example of how even doing the right thing can end in tragedy when police arrive with guns drawn.<\/p>\n
The shooting happened on March 27, 2022, on the steps of La Victoria Taqueria. Police were responding to reports of a nearby homicide when former officer Mark McNamara encountered Green exiting the restaurant with a gun in his hand. Body-worn and surveillance video later showed Green had taken the weapon from another man during a brawl inside the taqueria and was attempting to leave with it.<\/p>\n
McNamara fired four times, striking the then-20-year-old in the stomach, arm, and knee. While none of the bullets shattered bones or tore through critical muscles, Green suffered serious injuries. Police later acknowledged the homicide that prompted their response had nothing to do with the incident at La Vic.<\/p>\n
Despite six other officers being nearby, McNamara was the only one who fired.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you\u2019re doing nothing more than being a good guy,\u201d Pointer said. \u201cAnd you can still wind up being shot by a police officer, no matter what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The legal case stretched on for years, with the city repeatedly refusing to settle. Attorneys for McNamara and the city argued in federal court that the officer was protected by qualified immunity, even pressing that argument before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as recently as March 2025.<\/p>\n
Then came a revelation that shifted the case\u2019s trajectory.<\/p>\n
In 2023, San Jose\u2019s police chief disclosed that McNamara had sent racist text messages\u2014some referencing Green\u2014prompting the officer\u2019s resignation and the dismissal of several cases he had worked on. According to the city attorney, those messages would have been nearly impossible for a jury to overlook.<\/p>\n
In a statement explaining the proposed settlement, City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood said the payment reflects the \u201cinherent risks of litigation,\u201d particularly given the officer\u2019s \u201creprehensible statements evidencing racial animus,\u201d Green\u2019s injuries, and the city\u2019s obligation to cover attorney\u2019s fees if a jury ruled in his favor.<\/p>\n
A settlement conference was held in mid-November, and last week a federal judge dismissed Green\u2019s excessive force lawsuit, clearing the way for the agreement. The San Jose Police Department declined to comment.<\/p>\n
If approved, the $8 million settlement would trail only one other police payout in city history: the $11.3 million paid to Hung Lam, who was paralyzed after being shot by police in 2014.<\/p>\n
For Green, now 24, the money represents more than compensation\u2014it marks the end of a long fight to clear his name. He has since earned a full scholarship to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and is on track to become the first college graduate in his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am surprised that it took this long,\u201d Pointer said. \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t have made this young man fight for all these years to first clear his good name.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city has never apologized. But with an $8 million check on the table, San Jose appears ready\u2014at last\u2014to acknowledge the cost of a split-second decision that changed a young man\u2019s life forever.<\/p>\n
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