San Clemente Police Shoot Homeless Man Dead After He Becomes Belligerent, Starts A Massive Struggle

A man was shot and fatally injured by at least one sheriff’s deputy during an altercation in San Clemente on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 23, authorities said.

At about 1:12 pm, two Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputies with the city’s homeless outreach team were on patrol near the Hotel Miramar and attempted to make contact with a man described as homeless, the department said.

“Shortly after they contacted him, a physical altercation broke out,” said OCSD Sgt. Dennis Breckner. “Shortly after that two gunshots were fired.”

The deputies made lifesaving efforts, but the man died.

Breckner said officials reviewed video of the incident from a cell phone and from a nearby surveillance camera at a business. The latter shows the man reaching for a deputy’s weapon, he said. The scuffle began on the sidewalk, went out to the street and then ended back on the sidewalk, Breckner said.

The man who was shot is heard shouting “stop touching me,” as he attempts to walk past two deputies trying to detain him in footage posted to social media by South OC Black Lives Matter. The deputies point to the sidewalk and ask him to sit down, and he refuses.

At some point in the video, deputies are seen knocking the man to the ground. They scream at the man moments before a shot is fired, then another.