The San Francisco Public Defender's Office on Thursday released police body-camera and hallway surveillance video of an August 2025 arrest that left 33-year-old Kevon Gibson in intensive care. The office says the footage contradicts the officers' account and accuses the District Attorney's Office of trying to keep evidence from jurors and misleading the public afterward.
What the video shows
The arrest happened on Aug. 17, 2025, at a residential hotel on Sixth Street in the South of Market neighborhood. According to CBS San Francisco and The San Francisco Standard, the body-camera footage shows officers approaching Gibson at an elevator and telling him he was not under arrest, then grabbing his wrists as a struggle begins. Over several minutes, officers are seen punching him, kneeling on his head and neck and pulling his hair while he says he cannot breathe. Officers can be heard saying Gibson bit one of them. A second, silent video from a hallway camera shows him being pulled from the elevator and struck on the floor.
KQED identified the three officers as Brendan Caraway, Brian Conway and Gabriel Rivera. It reported that Gibson was placed in a medically induced coma and intubated, then held in county jail for about a year awaiting trial.
The charges and the verdict
Public defenders said Gibson was charged with criminal threats, three felony counts of resisting arrest and gun possession, and that the felony resisting counts relied on officers' claims of being bitten and punched. Deputy Public Defender Bonnie Chan-Silen, who represented Gibson with John Paul Passaglia, said the video refuted those claims. The jury rejected the felony assault allegations, but SFPD said Gibson was found guilty of resisting arrest and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The DA's office has said a loaded 9mm handgun was found in his pocket.
Both sides respond
The DA's office, in a statement to ABC7, said it never asked the court to exclude the footage and that the jury saw the video and heard the evidence. SFPD said the DA's Independent Investigations Bureau found the use of force justified under state law, that an internal administrative investigation is underway, and that all three officers remain employed.
What happens next
The public defender says it will file complaints with the city's Department of Police Accountability and ask the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to decertify the three officers, which would bar them from police work in California. The Standard reports Gibson is exploring a lawsuit.