K’aun Green, an HBCU football player, could receive a multi-million dollar settlement after being shot by San Jose police after disarming a gunman at a California restaurant.
The payout, recommended at $8 million, would resolve Green’s federal civil rights lawsuit and stand as one of the largest police‑misconduct settlements in San Jose history, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Green, now a junior at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, was 20 years old in March 2022 when he became involved in a late‑night altercation at La Victoria Taqueria in downtown San Jose, where a fight escalated and a “ghost gun” was drawn.
Surveillance evidence described in court records shows Green wresting the gun away and heading toward the exit with the weapon in his hand, moments before an officer opened fire outside the restaurant, striking him in the arm, abdomen and leg, the newspaper said.
Authorities later acknowledged that the taqueria incident was unrelated to a homicide investigation that had officers on high alert that night, undercutting early claims that Green matched a murder suspect.
The case further inflamed tensions when internal records revealed the officer who shot Green had exchanged racist text messages, including messages targeting Green and his legal team, before ultimately resigning from the force, according to the report.
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In the years following the shooting, Green underwent multiple surgeries and an extended rehabilitation, while reporting ongoing pain, psychological trauma and fears that his football career had been permanently derailed.
Despite those setbacks, he secured a scholarship to play football at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, an HBCU where he will continue to pursue both his education and athletic ambitions.
San Jose officials, who had previously argued that the officer’s actions were protected by qualified immunity and that the city bore no liability, reversed course as the case neared trial and legal exposure mounted.
The City Council is expected to vote on formal approval of the settlement in an upcoming public session, after which funds would be paid from the city’s insurance and liability reserves.
