SAN PABLO — Police on Friday released video worn by police officers during a police shooting last month that killed a San Pablo man, showing the man holding a BB gun before police fire upon him.
The shooting happened on Dec. 15 after a traffic stop near Truman Street and Market Avenue. Authorities identified the dead man as 45-year-old Sergio Escalera-Valdez.
In a statement, San Pablo police Capt. Brian Bubar said police released the body-worn and dashcam video “in an effort to foster transparency and trust with our community.” They posted the video to their social media pages.
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In all, police said six officers responded to the scene and four fired their guns.
The incident started just before 2:30 p.m., when a 9-1-1 dispatcher received a call from a person concerned about a man standing outside a business in the 1300 block of Market Avenue in unincorporated Contra Costa County. The man was leaning on the back of a red pickup truck in a parking lot and appeared to be holding something in his hands.
The caller told police the person was holding a gun and expressed concern for the safety of his customers, adding that it appeared the man was manipulating a magazine for the gun. Police after the shooting said they learned that the man was holding a replica BB gun.
The operator told the man that officers were on the way, but police said the man took off driving erratically before they could get there. Officers later pulled over the man at Truman Street and Market Avenue.
Police said body cam footage from Officer Shaun Swaleh shows the man refusing police commands and holding something in his hands as he turns toward officers. Police said they interpreted the movement as racking the slide of a gun, and Swaleh’s video records shots being fired.
Video from another officer, who was standing outside a patrol car, also shows the sliding motion movement of Escalera-Valdez’s hands. Body-cam video slowed down and enhanced shows the same thing along with Escalera-Valdez turning toward officers with what appears to be a gun in his hands.
In their statement, police also said Escalera-Valdez texted a photo of the BB gun to a family member just prior to the shooting with a message saying, “Goodbye.” Police said Escalera-Valdez told an employee in the parking lot that he was going to force officers to harm him.
“The San Pablo Police Department takes the use of force very seriously and any loss of life is tragic,” the department said in a statement.
Investigators initially determined the handgun was an Airsoft-style replica that fires plastic projectiles, leading to an investigation by the state Department of Justice. A new law, AB 1506, requires such probes for all police shootings of unarmed people, including people holding such replicas. Guns that fire BBs are not covered under the law.