A dozen community members gathered in front of San Diego Police Headquarters on Tuesday, holding signs that read “We know what you did” and “Accountability is not the enemy.” They are demanding the release of the body camera footage of the arrest of Muslah Abdul-Hafeez.
Abdul-Hafeez scribbled last minute notes before limping up to join his supporters.
He took a breath before addressing the gathered journalists: “I’m a business owner, a father and a son, and a Black man who was brutalized by the San Diego Police Department bike team officers on Sunday, July 9.”
On the front of his shirt are the words “We are not afraid,” on the back, “Don’t shoot just filming.” The shirts are worn by the Southeast Accountability Unit. Abdul-Hafeez regularly films police stops with the unit as part of its mission to hold police accountable and help prevent violence. They also assist community members to file complaints against the police.
He was wearing his neon yellow cop watcher vest early Sunday morning in the parking lot of the Chase bank in downtown San Diego when he heard gunshots.
He said he headed to grab his phone, which was charging in his car, so he could record the police who showed up shortly after and began detaining people in the parking lot.
But then the police stopped him.
“The police came back with guns,” Abdul-Hafeez said, “and told me to get on the f–ing ground. I got on the ground and they immediately jumped on top of me.”
SDPD Lieutenant Adam Sharki told KPBS that officers detained Abdul-Hafeez as a “possible gunman” after he “walked away.” Sharki encouraged anyone with information on the shooting — which injured one woman inside her nearby car — to contact Crime Stoppers.
Video recorded by a bystander and shared with KPBS shows four police officers surrounding Abdul-Hafeez, who is lying on the ground. He repeatedly asks why he’s being detained and with what he’s being charged.
The phone pans away but stays recording. Abdul-Hafeez said officers did not answer his questions, but used increasing force.
“They began striking me,” he said, “digging their nails inside my skin, putting their body weight on my back, my neck. They handcuffed me real tight. I still got the scars right here. It was bleeding.”
In the video you can hear Abdul screaming. He said the officers inflicted the worst injuries after he was already handcuffed and in the police car.
“They’re trying to pull my arms out of socket,” he said. “I already have my hands behind my back.”
Medical records from the Alvarado Hospital Medical Center after the arrest diagnosed him with a fractured shoulder, head injury and “assault.”
Police gave Abdul-Hafeez a ticket for resisting arrest.
Community organizer Tasha Williamson said that charge is regularly used to justify wrongful arrests without probable cause. She and others are calling for an investigation into the incident and for charges against the officers for excessive use of force and failure to intervene.
“They can end this by charging officers just as they charge community members,” Williamson said.
San Diego Police data show officers are much more likely to use force on Black San Diegans than white San Diegans.
At the press conference, Abdul-Hafeez pointed to the dark spot on his wrist he said was left from the handcuffs. He pulled up his pant leg to show his swollen calf.
“And I want you to understand that he is one of thousands,” Williamson said, “thousands of men that look like him that are dragged out of their cars without probable cause, that are pointed guns at their face.”
