Cops cleared of wrongdoing in death of man who was kneeled on for eight minutes outside bar

Source: New York Post

Two police officers who restrained a local man before he died outside a popular downtown bar last January have been cleared by the San Diego District Attorney. District Attorney Summer Stephan in a December review found that San Diego Police Department officers Jacob Phipps and Noah McLemore used “the minimal amount of force necessary” in their restraint of Gabriel Garza who died in their custody on January 25, 2025. The report found that Garza, 40, a caterer from San Diego had behaved “erratically” and that the officers acted to “prevent Garza from injuring himself, bystanders, or other officers” in their use of handcuffs and a prone restraint on the unarmed man.