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RICHMOND — A man shot by a Richmond police officer apparently didn’t hold any grudges about the wound he suffered.
“I don’t blame the police at all,” Nahum Perez, 25, told officers who questioned him.
That detail and more came to light Tuesday when Richmond police released a YouTube video, dubbed “Community Briefing,” that discussed the Feb. 27 shooting in which Detective Kristian Palma fired on Perez. The agency released the details in compliance with SB1421, a new law that requires more transparency.
Police Chief Allwyn Brown released a statement on social media to complement the release of the YouTube video.
“We see value in leading change and adapting to reform in policing,” Brown wrote in his statement. “The Police Transparency Era represents a new opportunity to educate and inform the public of some little-known realities that go with police officers carrying out their duties, always abiding by the protections that the Constitution provides for all of us.”
Perez survived the shooting. He later pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm; being a felon in possession of ammunition; possession of a high-capacity magazine; and obstruction of a police officer.
The shooting happened after Perez tried to run away from police and ignored commands by officers, police Lt. Matt Stonebraker said in the video. According to Stonebraker, Perez later told police, “It could’ve been a lot worse,” and that officers “[thought] I had a gun.”
Perez entered Joe’s Market at 95 W. MacDonald Ave. at 8:53 p.m. Feb. 27; he carried a firearm and slapped a person in the face, police said. The video released by police plays back the original 911 call.
Officers later found a man matching the description of Perez walking on Sixth Street and Barrett Avenue, Stonebraker said. Other video released by police shows Perez discarding a gun as he runs from them.
The other footage also shows Perez concealing a “longer than usual” pistol magazine, Stonebraker said, as well as tapping a black extended pistol magazine on the counter of the store.
Asked why he didn’t discard the magazine when he got rid of the gun, Perez told police, “I don’t know. I was drunk, man.”
Palma heard a single gunshot after officers initially lost sight of Perez during their pursuit, and other officers broadcast that a shot was fired, Stonebraker said. Palma drove to the area, parked his car on Nevin Avenue and saw Perez running east on Nevin on the south curb of the Nevin Community Center, Stonebraker said.
As Perez continued to run, Palma fired once.
“Detective Palma, knowing a citizen had seen the suspect with the gun and heard a broadcast of gun firing, believed the suspect was an immediate threat to the public and himself,” Stonbraker said.
Once shot, Perez tossed the magazine to the ground and was treated by officers, Stonebraker said. An ambulance took Perez to Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez.
ShotSpotter recordings also were released by police.
“All video capture of police using physical force to make an arrest or to subdue a physically resistant individual can be difficult to watch and hard to understand,” Brown wrote. “The occasional use of physical force is a constant reality of policing because law enforcement officers are regularly called upon to address volatile situations: people who are wrapped up in extreme circumstances, whose state of mind may be altered by drugs, alcohol, or a flood of brain chemicals, or who might be entangled by mental and emotional duress, and consequently are not at their best at the time of their interaction with the police.
“When confronted with the necessity, we expect our police officers to respond with just enough force to gain compliance or to get control of the situation, without excess. Every incident where a police officer uses force gets investigated immediately, with the encounter going through several levels of management evaluation.”
Police said their community briefings will appear periodically.
Contact Rick Hurd at 925-945-4789.
