SF Public Defender Files Racial Profiling Complaint Against SFPD Over Hunters Point Raid

Inside a bedroom at 1270 Quesada Ave in Hunters Point, Carlos Espana-Quintanilla was bleeding from his mouth and nose, lying prone on the floor with more than three officers kneeling on him as he cried out for help. That August 2025 encounter, which began when an officer spotted a Black man in the neighborhood and sprinted after him without activating his body-worn camera, is now the subject of a formal complaint filed by the San Francisco Public Defender's Office with the city's Department of Police Accountability.

The complaint alleges that officers Johnson and Byrd, along with at least six additional officers who poured into Espana-Quintanilla's bedroom, violated SFPD policies on racial profiling, use of force, illegal entry, and body-worn camera activation. Two men were arrested that night: Espana-Quintanilla, 23, and a 22-year-old friend whose name the Public Defender's Office withheld for privacy reasons. Charges against both were later dismissed.

According to the complaint, Officer Johnson identified the 22-year-old as a potential suspect in an earlier incident, got out of his patrol car, and sprinted after him to 1270 Quesada Ave without activating his camera. Brian Cox, head of the Public Defender's Office Integrity Unit, wrote in a letter to Paul Henderson, executive director of the DPA, that Johnson then burst through the gate of a metal fence surrounding the home and grabbed the 22-year-old at the front door without a warrant. The complaint states the only justification for the stop was race: "The only overlapping characteristic between that man and the boyfriend is that they are both Black men and happen to be in the same neighborhood."

Cox described what followed as a cascading series of constitutional violations. "These SFPD officers compounded their profound errors with violence," he wrote. "They pursued the 22-year-old to his friend's house — even though, aside from being Black, he had no resemblance to a suspect they were looking for. From there, they violently intruded into a family function and made arrests, shoving the 22-year-old's face into the sidewalk in the process. Family members protested and demanded to know why police were there, and officers pepper sprayed them."

Among those pepper-sprayed was a disabled, wheelchair-bound woman who attempted to defend her brother. Officer Byrd then returned to the residence, pushed past a closed metal gate without a warrant, chased Espana-Quintanilla into his bedroom, pushed him onto his bed, and punched him multiple times in the face while his mother watched. Six more officers entered the room; more than three of them knelt on Espana-Quintanilla as he lay on the ground crying for help. He was taken to a police car bleeding and later received medical care.

The complaint faults Johnson specifically for failing to activate his body-worn camera during the initial pursuit "despite having ample opportunity to do so," a lapse the Public Defender's Office argues directly undermines accountability. The complaint also charges that officers acted "mechanically," ignoring multiple opportunities to reassess, and that the force used was "egregious, excessive, and particularly violent" in violation of SFPD use-of-force policy.

"The detention, wrongful arrest, and unnecessary violence inflicted on these two men and their family members were illegal and outrageous," said Public Defender Mano Raju. "This incident reeks of racism, and the public deserves a thorough investigation of these officers' actions."

SFPD declined to comment on the open complaint. The DPA, which serves as the city's independent police oversight body, is now tasked with investigating the allegations.