San Diego police said Friday that the department’s Internal Affairs Unit is investigating a use-of-force incident involving a police canine unit in Valencia Park.
Video of officers’ interactions with a man, 31, who allegedly had threatened a woman with a gun prompted a formal complaint, along with questions, police said, about how the incident was resolved.
Internal Affairs investigators are examining publicly released footage, body-worn camera video, witness statements and more as part of the probe.
“As with many uses of force, videos of this nature are very difficult to view. We are already in the process of conducting a thorough review of the incident, and I’m committed to exploring how the situation could have been handled differently,” police Chief Scott Wahl said in a statement.
Just before midnight on Oct. 24, officers arrived at a home on Duluth Avenue to follow up on a 911 call about the gun threat.
After speaking with the victim and witnesses, officers sought contact with the man accused of wielding the gun.
Officers called for him to come out of the home, and he emerged a short time later, but allegedly ignored repeated orders to surrender. They used three beanbag rounds and a police canine to subdue him and take him into custody.
The man, arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest, was taken to a hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries. But authorities found no firearm and the man was not booked into jail.
Police, however, still forwarded the results of the investigation to the City Attorney’s Office for further review.
Because the incident involves allegations of improper force, the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) will monitor the investigation. The Department of Justice also will review the case, as will the city’s independent Commission on Police Practices.
The incident will be further reviewed by the police department’s Training Division to determine if the actions of the officers at the scene aligned with their training as well as professional best practices.
