Controversial Los Gatos Officer Cleared On Excessive Force Call

LOS GATOS, CA — A briefing video involving the use of force by a controversial former officer in an incident from last April has been released by the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department while his court case ensues, Chief Peter Decena announced Friday.

Decena said a review of the incident found Officer Johnathon Silva's actions were "reasonable and within department policy."

Patch has inquired with the department about the officer's termination.

While with the Los Gatos police force on April 19, Silva was dispatched at 5:08 p.m. to a dispute between neighbors in which the reporting party sought assistance from police with a subject who was yelling and cursing at her in a threatening manner as well as showing up at her front door, according to the dispatch call. The officer contacted the subject who was uncooperative and refused to identify himself.

Almost immediately, the subject began reaching for something in his right front pants pocket. When the suspect identified in the call as "James" refused to comply to Silva's command to take his hand out of his pocket, a physical struggle resulted in the suspect losing consciousness while being arrested, according to the graphic part of the video. During the course of the struggle, the suspect sustained several fractured ribs and was rendered unconscious from the officer's choke hold over the carotid artery. It was later revealed the man was in possession of pepper spray.

The suspect was issued a citation under case number 19-990 and treated at a local hospital.

The outcome of the investigation turned out much different than last April's incident involving Los Gatos Police.

From the start, it seemed Silva's tenure at the small town police station was eventful with the fall out from his firing at San Jose State University for his apparent excessive force used during a confrontation and beating in the campus Martin Luther King, Jr. Library at the hands of the officer.

On March 17, 2016, university police officers responded to a call for assistance at the library that an individual was not compliant with officers. The interaction quickly escalated, requiring force to subdue the individual, according to San Jose State.

During the incident, the suspect was injured and taken to a local hospital, and the officer initially responding also was injured.

SJSU and the California State University system thoroughly reviewed this incident and used the services of an outside, experienced, and independent investigator to conduct a comprehensive probe. "The investigation concluded that the officer initially responding had violated university policy for use of force in multiple respects," university police Chief Gina Di Napoli said in a statement from July 2. "Based on the investigation, SJSU determined the officer should be terminated. However, the officer’s appeal to the California State Personnel Board was sustained, and he was reinstated to the UPD. He subsequently voluntarily resigned and is no longer with the UPD."

Silva's court case involving the Los Gatos incident is in process.

In 55,000 contacts with the community over the last three years, Los Gatos-Monte Sereno
Police officers have only had to utilize force options in 13 incidents. The April incident was the
only use of what may be deemed excessive force that meets the parameters for a community briefing.

Every use of force by a Los Gatos police officer is subject to an internal administrative review to ensure all department policies and practices were properly applied, the police department insisted. Beyond the internal probe, two reviews by outside use-of-force experts independently came to the same conclusion, the department added.

No matter the outcome, use-of-force reviews also provide an opportunity to identify areas of
improvement in training, policies and best practices — which Decena declares the department uses as a way to "train officers to de-escalate" these types of incidents.

"This is part of our continuous effort to hold our employees to the highest standards of professional policing, while delivering an extraordinary level of service to the community," Decena explained.