Public defenders allege SFPD, DA cover-up in violent arrest that left man hospitalized

SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco Public Defender's Office on Thursday released footage of a violent 2025 arrest that left 33-year-old Kevon Gibson hospitalized for several days, and the office is now alleging police and prosecutors attempted to cover up the brutality of the arrest.

What's in the video

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San Francisco Police Department body camera video shows officers confronting Gibson on Aug. 17, 2025.

The officers pull him out of an elevator at a residential hotel on Sixth Street after a resident got into an argument with Gibson.

The San Francisco District Attorney's Office said Gibson had a loaded gun in his pocket and actively resisted when officers tried to search him.

In the video, Gibson can be heard yelling as the officers take him to the ground.

Police accused Gibson of fighting them, and the video shows the officers striking him and kneeling on his head as they attempt to place him in handcuffs.

"Gibson was hospitalized in the ICU for several days because of the beating," the San Francisco Public Defender's Office said. "He was then transferred to jail, where he remained for the next year while facing charges."

The fallout

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Gibson was charged with making criminal threats, three felony counts of resisting arrest and gun possession. 

Public defenders said the District Attorney’s office offered Gibson a plea deal where the felony resisting arrest charges would be dismissed, but that it "would have required him to sign a waiver… that could have weakened any civil claims he may bring against the police officers."

Gibson refused the deal, and the case went to trial.

The San Francisco Public Defender's Office further alleges that, during the trial, prosecutors "sought to only show jurors bodycam footage of the arrest without the audio" and tried to hide the other resident’s "propensity for violence and racism."

A jury ultimately acquitted Gibson of all three felony counts of resisting arrest, but found him guilty of misdemeanor resisting arrest charges and of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

"These charges were based on the lies that these officers told to try to justify the excessive force they used against Mr. Gibson," said Deputy Public Defender Bonnie Chan-Silen.

The other side:

The San Francisco District Attorney's Office pushed back against the claims made by public defenders.

"Calling this a 'cover-up' isn't just an attack on our prosecutors – it shows remarkable disrespect for the court and the jurors who heard the evidence and rendered the verdict," the SFDA’s office said.

The SFPD did not comment on the claims made by the San Francisco Public Defender's Office, but the San Francisco Police Union expressed support for the officers.

"In the Kevon Gibson case, the evidence was presented in a court of law, reviewed by a judge and considered by a jury," the union said in a statement. "That jury convicted Mr. Gibson of four criminal offenses. Those verdicts cannot simply be dismissed because the outcome does not fit the narrative being advanced by the Public Defender’s Office."

What's next:

The San Francisco Public Defender's Office said Gibson plans to appeal the charge of unlawful gun possession on the claim that he had the gun only temporarily to protect himself from the resident that he argued with. 

The office also said it plans to file a complaint with the San Francisco Department of Police Accountability and notify the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to seek decertification of the officers involved in Gibson’s arrest.

"It’s our job as public defenders to fight back against government overreach, and to protect the community by confronting violence perpetrated by state actors. That is why we are exposing this police brutality and the District Attorney Office’s attempts to cover it up," said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. "My office will continue to advocate for transparency and accountability when police officers and prosecutors misuse their immense authority to harm our clients and our communities."