Body Camera Shows Man Hobbling Toward Police With Scissors Held High: SFPD

A man who survived being shot by San Francisco police off U.S. Highway 101 appeared to threaten officers with scissors in newly released body camera footage.

In keeping with police policy, a virtual town hall was held Friday to review the events leading up to the shooting through video recordings and 911 audio tapes.

Juan Antonio Serrato, 40, was shot in the chest about 11:20 a.m. Sept. 4 after allegedly prowling a residence and then walking across all lanes of U.S. 101, according to police Commander Jack Hart. Serrato remains hospitalized in stable condition, Interim Police Chief Paul Yep said. He is accused of resisting and assaulting a peace officer, and traffic violations.

A resident in the 200 block of Holladay Avenue in Bernal Heights called 911 to report a prowler. The street runs adjacent to U.S.101.

"He was in the yard, but I think he climbed the roof and now he's leaving," the caller told a 911 dispatcher. "I am inside the house and then I hear noises upstairs."

The caller described the man as wearing all black and stumbling as he walked away from the house, appearing to be injured.

Surveillance video showed a man in dark clothing limping toward a chain-link fence that separates Holladay Avenue from U.S. 101 and climbing over.

Soon after, the California Highway Patrol received several calls reporting a man who had jumped off a retaining wall and was walking across the highway.

"There is a guy in the middle of the freeway," one caller said. "He is carrying scissors."

A sheriff's deputy on U.S. 101 saw Serrato on the freeway shoulder near the northbound exit to Cesar Chavez Street and pulled over. Police officers from the Ingleside Station responding to the prowler call came to the scene to assist, Hart said.

One officer asked Serrato if he was OK and told him to get off the highway. Serrato hobbled toward the officer while raising his right hand that was holding what appeared to be a pointed object, according to body camera video.

As the officer retreated, another officer, Michael Scott, fired one shot at Serrato. The man fell to the ground and dropped a pair of scissors, police said.

Hart acknowledged that the shooting is still under investigation. He said new information could change the Police Department's understanding of what happened.

Besides police, the case is being investigated by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and the city's Department of Police Accountability.

Anyone with information, photographs, or video related to the case is asked to contact the District Attorney's Independent Investigations Bureau at sfda-ibb@sfgov.org or (628) 652-4420.

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