Slain man’s parents allege excessive force by S.F. police

The parents of a 21-year-old man killed earlier this year in a chaotic exchange of gunfire with San Francisco police inside an Excelsior neighborhood barbershop filed a lawsuit this week against the city and the Police Department.

Jehad Eid, a Suisun City resident who worked at a Metro PCS store in San Francisco, was shot dead during the violent clash March 21 inside the Amazon Barber Shop at London Street and Geneva Avenue. Five others were injured in the gunbattle, including a San Francisco police officer who was shot in the leg, and a teenager who was shot in the foot.

Eid’s parents, Ziad Eid and Falasteen Eid, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Wednesday against San Francisco, claiming wrongful death.

San Francisco police used excessive force “because they lacked reasonable cause to believe that Jehad Eid posed a risk to officers or others sufficient to justify that use of deadly force,” the family’s attorney, Dan Siegel, wrote in the lawsuit.

Officials with the Police Department said they could not comment on pending litigation.

But John Coté, a spokesman for the city at-

torney’s office, defended the officers’ actions and said Eid “had a gun” and shot a police officer and innocent victims.

“The trial will prove that the San Francisco police officers who entered this active shooting scene acted lawfully to prevent further injury or death to the bystanders who were in imminent danger,” he said.

Police in March said Jehad Eid opened fire first on the officers, who were responding to the barbershop around 4:30 p.m. after one of Jehad Eid’s parents told police their son was in possession of a gun. Jehad Eid, who was on probation for a 2015 armed robbery, had threatened his family, flashed the gun, and tried to break into their garage, dispatchers told the officers.

Police officials released dramatic body camera footage of the shooting during a heated town hall meeting at Balboa High School later that month.

It’s unclear from the footage who shot first, but the video shows an officer walking into the barbershop, immediately draw his gun and fire at a man in the back corner of the shop as others dive for cover.

That officer, police said, had been shot in the leg. Blood can be seen on the floor as the officer takes cover behind a chair and says, “I’m hit.”

Another person inside the shop is heard in the video shouting, “I got kids, I got kids, I got kids here,” referring to children who were eating pizza in another room of the building.

Police said Eid fired nine rounds from a 40caliber gun, which was recovered at the scene. Officers Kevin Endo and Tess Casey, both members of the department’s field operations bureau, fired a total of 26 rounds and hit Eid 18 times.

“I want to get my hands on all the evidence and make a judgment on what we think occurred,” Siegel said in an interview. “These cases are often much more complicated than they first seem.”