Football player shot by San Jose police gets full ride to university; city digging in heels

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A young football player who was shot by a San Jose police officer in a case of mistaken identity has earned a full scholarship to college despite the fact that the city is digging in its heels and is arguing they are not liable for his injuries.

Headed to university

K'aun Green is headed off to the University of Arkansas at Pine Buff, putting him on the path to being the first to graduate from college in his family.

"It just boosts my spirits a whole lot," Green, 23, told KTVU on Tuesday. "Just believing in myself and just fighting back from the brink of death."

Mistaken identity 

In 2022, then-San Jose police officer Mark McNamara shot Green four times on the steps of La Victoria Taqueria, wrongly assuming the young man was involved in a nearby homicide, even though Green had actually disarmed another gunman inside the restaurant and was exiting with the confiscated weapon in his hand.

The police department later acknowledged the earlier homicide had nothing to do with the brawl at La Vic.

And in 2023, the police chief at the time exposed McNamara after discovering a string of racist texts on his phone.

But the city of San Jose has never apologized to Green and is refusing to settle his federal lawsuit.

"It's a very exasperating thing to go through," Green said. "But it just showed me that nothing is insurmountable." 

San Jose says it's not responsible

McNamara's attorney, Susan Coleman, and San Jose city attorney, Nora Frimann, have both submitted arguments in federal court that McNamara, who resigned from the department, had "qualified immunity" when he shot Green in the stomach, arm and knee, and therefore, the city isn't responsible. 

Coleman essentially reiterated that argument on March 6 before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where the case is pending. 

The attorney argued that McNamara had no idea that Green was a "hero" or a "football player" – all he knew was that he saw was a man holding a gun. 

Qualified immunity protects public officials, including police, from liability in civil suits when they act within their official capacity. In other words, it protects government officials from lawsuits unless their actions were clearly wrong according to existing law. 

But one of Green's attorneys, Patrick Buelna, argued to the panel of justices that his client was armed, but nonthreatening and immediately complied with McNamara's order in the act of surrendering. He also pointed out that plenty of other precedents forbid police to shoot at people unless the circumstances are "harrowing." 

"It's terrible for something that's so blatant and obvious to stand by a disgraced cop at the expense of a young man who almost lost his life," Green's other attorney, Adante Pointer, said in an interview on Tuesday. "It's a standard strategy to delay and deny justice." 

Green is grateful 

But despite what's happened to him, Green said he feels very grateful.

Especially to the coaches at the University of Arkansas, an HBCU, who made him feel very "comforted" when he told them what happened in San Jose. 

"Everyone just embraced me," Green said. "I had about six offers but this was the best because they seemed scared of me, like I wasn't the hero or something." 

Green said it's been very hard to overcome getting shot by a police officer.

He had physical injuries to overcome and he said he gained a lot of weight, which made him more injury-prone on the field. 

The situation was also emotionally trying, where he felt alone and depressed.

"And right now I'm in therapy, so that kind of helps," he said. "And I'm working out three times a day, trying to get myself back together. It's still hard. It's still a hard process. I still have nightmares and, you know, it's a never-ending battle." 

Still, he said, he's thrilled to be going off to university to play football and study kinesiology. 

 "I'm excited," he said. "I'm excited to finally put some things behind me." 

 

San JoseSports