DA clears officer in S.J. police shooting of Demetrius Stanley

SAN JOSE >> An undercover San Jose police officer has been cleared of criminal liability after he shot and killed Demetrius Stanley on Memorial Day night after Stanley approached his unmarked SUV with a gun in his hand, seemingly unaware he was confronting police who were conducting surveillance on him.

A report released Sept. 16 from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office identified Anthony Baza as the officer who shot Stanley as he opened the vehicle door.

The DA’S report included a departure from the initial police narrative given two days after the shooting, which described the confrontation as escalating so quickly that the Baza did not have time to identify himself as a police officer. In the new report, prosecutors cite surveillance video as showing Baza saying, “Get the f*** out of here, police!” almost simultaneously with the moment he fired four shots at Stanley, hitting him twice.

“As soon as Stanley opened the car door, Officer Baza was staring down the barrel of a loaded semiautomatic handgun,” Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker wrote in the report. “In that split second, Officer Baza had no other reasonable choice than to shoot Stanley to save his own life.”

Stanley’s death drew a rapid, passionate response from family members, community leaders and activists who galvanized around the idea that Stanley believed he was protecting his family — his girlfriend, grandmother and father were home — when he went to the car, not attacking police. His death spawned a march of more than 100 people the following night from City Hall to the police department; protesters briefly shut down Highway 87.

Adante Pointer, a civilrights attorney representing Stanley’s mother, said the report left the family “with more questions than answers,” and contended that it shows there were ample opportunities to avoid the shooting.

“He came outside because he saw people he thought were prowling and lurking around his property, he came out armed to investigate what was going on,” Pointer said. “What was proper at the critical moment was for the police to identify them as police, to de-escalate. Instead, the officers continued on with their botched covert operation.”

Pointer said of Baza: “Instead of announcing himself and driving off, he sat there with a gun ready to fire at Demetrius and that’s exactly what he did.”

Baza and a second officer, Hans Jorgenson — both working under the SJPD covert response unit — were staking out Stanley’s home in connection with an investigation in which Stanley was suspected of robbing a teenager of a replica gun in March. Police said they found Stanley carrying a loaded handgun during a traffic stop later that month.

The May 31 surveillance, police and prosecutors said, was to set up an arrest later in the week.