SAN DIEGO — Speaking with a band-aid on his cheek and with an injury to his eye, Jesse Evans shares what he said happened to him while he was physically arrested by San Diego Police Wednesday morning.
"The true story is I didn't even get to pee because they came around the corner, I unclipped my pants, I was going to pee anyway, but you can't pee right here. They were talking about indecent exposure,” Jesse said.
Nicole Bansal screamed aloud as police arrested Jesse and recorded the video. She said it got too violent.
"I think it was an excessive use of force,” Bansal said.
A statement from San Diego Police following the incident reads in part:
"Two San Diego Police officers on patrol in the 4100 block of Torrey Pines Road witnessed a man urinating in public. The officers decided to approach the man because urinating in public violates the law. The man would not stop to speak with officers therefore an officer held the man to detain him.
Despite the officers repeatedly telling the man to "stop resisting", the man would not comply. One of the officers struck the man several times."
Jesse said, "It is ridiculous to me that an animal or dog can lift their leg and pee, but if I got to pee badly if I feel I have to pee then I can't go find a spot out of the way and pee.”
Shane Harris of People's Association of Justice Advocates led the rally in support of Jesse, calling on the San Diego Police Chief to release body worn camera footage and dispatcher audio.
"What we are looking at today is urinating while black. Not only was he being brutalized he was being punched continuously. We want to know the background story,” Harris said.
Jesse was taken to the hospital and booked into county jail for resisting arrest and battery on a police officer. Abel's Bail Bonds paid Jesse's bail, and Amie Zamudio, a La Jolla resident since 1979, said she picked Jesse up from jail early Friday morning.
“Jesse needs housing. Jesse was looking for a restroom. We have police officers following people around wondering if they are going to go to the restroom,” Zamudio said.
Zamudio said the real issue is the lack of restrooms in the beach community.
"It is time for real solutions, and it is time for getting police out of the homelessness business, they are making things worse,” said Homeless Advocate Michael McConnell.
The SDPD Internal Affairs Unit said it is currently investigating the incident and reviewing Body Worn Camera (BWC) video.
Harris said, “When they approach our unsheltered citizens, they need to be finding hotel rooms for them instead of putting handcuffs on them."
UCSD 2nd year student Tiara Nourishad said, “Everyone in the UCSD community was so heartbroken because we all know Jesse, we see him every day when we are coming to school."
Civil rights attorney Marlea Delano said Jesse was criminalized for something many college students do.
“We have three large college universities here, if you are going to tell me that this is not happening on a regular basis and I’m not going to believe it, but I do know is that those kids are not getting arrested, those kids are not getting punched in the face, those kids are requiring stitches or having broken blood vessels in their eyes,” Delano said.
Cheryl Morrow, who grew up in La Jolla, concurred that use of force and a better approach needs to be reviewed by police.
“We are the trustees of peace. We also are the trustees of how police engage,” Morrow said.
Bishop Cornelius Bowser, Senior Pastor of Charity Apostolic Church said that when he was younger he received a citation for urinating in public and Jesse did not even get the chance to actually pee.
“When I see Jesse, I see myself. There needs to be an end to these kinds of things,” Bowser said.
Jesse said, "I hope I am the last victim of such nonsense to me. I hope that we can hire reasonable individuals to look out for us."
A GoFundMe has been started to help Jesse with an emergency hotel stay and legal fees.
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