San Francisco – Public defenders Bonnie Chan‑Silen and John Paul Passaglia say a Black man, 33‑year‑old Kevon Gibson, was violently restrained by three San Francisco Police Department officers in the summer of 2025, leaving him close to a coma. The defenders also allege that District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ office attempted to hide key evidence from the trial.
Incident at a SoMa apartment
Gibson was staying with a friend in a Sixth Street apartment in the South of Market district when a building resident called police on August 17, 2025, claiming Gibson had threatened him and displayed a weapon. The callers’ statements, captured on body‑camera footage released by the public defender’s office, show the caller using a racial slur and threatening to “stick this knife into his Black ass.” Police arrived around 8 a.m., but did not engage Gibson at that time.
A second call was made later that day, and officers returned at about 1 p.m. The footage shows an officer demanding that Gibson’s roommate open the door, referring to Gibson as a “giant ass boyfriend.” When officers entered the unit, the video records one officer saying, “Ain’t nobody gonna do shit if I kick this door down.” The officers then forced Gibson to the floor, repeatedly striking his head while Gibson pleaded, “Please, please sir, don’t. Can you please listen?” One officer knelt on Gibson’s body and pulled his hair, after which Gibson said, “I’m scared to death” and “I can’t breathe.”
Charges and trial
Police later claimed Gibson had bitten and punched the officers during the arrest. Gibson was taken to an intensive‑care unit, sedated for several days, and subsequently charged with multiple offenses, including felony counts of resisting arrest as a felon‑in‑possession of a firearm. He remained in jail for a year, pleading not guilty and rejecting a plea deal.
At a trial in August 2026, a jury found Gibson guilty of illegal possession of a gun as a felon and of misdemeanor resisting‑arrest charges, but acquitted him of three felony resisting‑arrest counts after viewing the body‑camera video. Gibson’s attorneys argued the officers’ allegations of biting and punching were not credible. Gibson plans to appeal the gun conviction, asserting the firearm was obtained from a friend shortly before the incident.
Allegations of a cover‑up
Chan‑Silen and Passaglia contend that the District Attorney’s office sought to suppress the audio from the body‑camera footage and to keep jurors from seeing police interaction with the original complainant. They also claim DA investigators woke Gibson from his medically‑induced sleep to interview him, potentially compromising his condition.
In response, the DA’s office issued a statement acknowledging Gibson’s convictions and rejecting the “cover‑up” characterization, calling it “an attack on our prosecutors” and “remarkable disrespect for the court and the jurors who heard the evidence and rendered the verdict.”
Next steps
The public defender’s office intends to file a formal complaint with the Department of Police Accountability and to request that the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training consider decertifying the three officers—identified as Brendan Caraway, Brian Conway, and Gabriel Rivera.
This allegation follows a recent Department of Police Accountability investigation that found SFPD officers used excessive force against another resident, Matthew Ludwig, in a mistaken‑identity case that resulted in significant personal loss for the victim.
San Francisco police have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Original reporting: Mission Local — read the source article.
