White San Jose police officer Mark McNamara, who shot a Black college football player at a restaurant last year, resigned after an internal investigation revealed a series of racist text messages he sent.
According to San Jose chief of police Anthony Mata, the texts were “disgusting” and demonstrated “racial bias.”
“There is zero tolerance for even a single expression of racial bias at the San José Police Department. The messages were found due to the expansion of our Internal Affairs Unit’s efforts to thoroughly investigate all questionable conduct and is why we have made investments in a new early warning system. I made it clear last year when I expanded our investigation systems that we would be proactive and transparent in identifying patterns of policy violations. This is the promised accountability resulting from that work,” Mata said in a statement.
Unlawful Shooting?
In March 2022 McNamara shot then Contra Costa College football player K’aun Green four times as Green was leaving La Victoria Taqueria.
It turns out, according to witnesses on the scene, Green was a “hero” who wrestled a ghost gun away from a man involved in a brawl at the restaurant.
Police said they believed it was an active shooter situation and that they issued Green commands to drop the weapon. But witness footage showed Green had his back turned to the officers on the scene as he was leaving and McNamara shot him as soon as he turned around. Green’s lawyers contend there wasn’t sufficient time to recognize that the police were on scene or hear their commands amid all the commotion.
Green has a pending civil lawsuit against the city.
Clear Racial Bias
The police department reportedly uncovered text messages sent by McNamara to a colleague days after the shooting, with those messages being made available to media. In those, McNamara seemingly refers to Green as the N-word.
“N—- wanted to carry a gun in the Wild West,” followed by “Not on my watch haha.”
McNamara also sent texts to the same colleague about the lawsuit and the investigation into whether he was in the wrong for shooting Green.
“There was like 65 African lookin mother fuckers there too. All just mean mugging me and taking notes. They should all be bowing down to me and brining (sic) me gifts since I saved a fellow n—- by making him rich as fuck. Otherwise he woulda lived a life of poverty and crime.”
McNamara was allowed to resign instead of being fired. The police chief also said that criminal charges against McNamara are not expected.
Green was shot in the abdomen, leg and arm. A year later, Green said his stomach still hurts a lot and that he’s dealing with depression.