Officials say arrested man takes officer’s gun, fires at him at Main Jail
SAN JOSE >> A nearly lethal confrontation unfolded at the Main Jail early Wednesday morning after authorities say an arrested man in a San Jose police vehicle slipped his handcuffs, squeezed past a Plexiglas barrier, grabbed an officer’s gun and shot at him, touching off a lengthy standoff that ended with the man’s arrest.
The suspect also fired several more shots during the stalemate, by which point the officer had gotten to safety and officials had evacuated the jail’s sally port, a secure basementlevel lot where people are transported for booking into the jail.
No one was injured in the encounter, which occurred as a man was being brought to the jail on an arrest for suspected mail theft and a probation violation. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation into the shooting because of its jurisdiction over the county jails.
The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Joseph Castro, was being taken to the
Main Jail on West Hedding Street at about 1:40 a.m. by a San Jose police officer. In accordance with jail protocol, the officer secured his service pistol in the rear cargo area of the police SUV, the sheriff’s office said.
Despite being restrained in handcuffs in the backseat area of the vehicle, the sheriff’s office said Castro found a way to get into the rear cargo area and get a hold of the pistol and fired several rounds at the officer, who was not hit.
San Jose police Chief Eddie
Garcia said the officer was filling out paperwork in the driver’s seat of the vehicle when he heard rustling, looked behind and saw Castro had maneuvered his handcuffs to the front of his body and was trying to get into the back.
The suspect “manages somehow to pry the Plexiglas partition away enough and begins to squeeze himself through,” Garcia said. “The officer gets out of the driver’s side, opens the door and calls for help as he tries to drag him back in. The man gets hold of his firearm and starts firing rounds.”
After the officer retreated to safety and the area was cleared, Castro spent the next four hours holed up inside the police vehicle, during which he reportedly fired more shots out of the vehicle, the sheriff’s office said.
The entire time, Castro never left the vehicle.
Sheriff’s deputies, including its SWAT and crisis negotiation units, and officers from San Jose, Santa Clara and the California Highway Patrol converged on the scene and blocked access to surrounding streets.
At about 5:50 a.m., the sheriff’s tactical unit moved in on the vehicle and “brought him into custody without incident,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Garcia said SJPD police vehicles are constructed with Plexiglas barriers separating the backseat from both the driver’s compartment and the rear cargo area.
“At the end of the day this is an extraordinary circumstance,” he said. “This should not have happened, and we need to see if there are issues in all our police cars with the partition in the backseat, and with what is reasonably assumed to be a secure area.”
Castro was arrested in San Jose about a week ago, then released, prior to his arrest overnight, according to authorities.
“Suspects who do not want to back to jail can act desperate, and this is what occurs,” Garcia said. “It puts an officer’s life on the line. An officer who is unarmed and tried to wrestle with a person firing at him, showing a tremendous amount of courage.”
Castro was interviewed and booked Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and taking a peace officer’s firearm, in addition to his original booking offenses.