San Jose, CA

The San Jose Police Department has paid $24.35 million in documented civil settlements between 2020 and 2026, with the dataset anchored by two landmark cases that together account for more than 83% of total exposure. The January 2026 approval of an $8 million settlement in the K'aun Green shooting case set a new record for SJPD - the largest single settlement in the department's history. Green, an Oakland native and aspiring professional football player, was shot by an officer at a La Victoria taqueria in 2022 and survived with serious injuries.

The second major case involves a proposed $12 million settlement for wrongful conviction claims against three SJPD detectives who allegedly fabricated evidence. The case was pending trial as of June 2024, with the city council considering settlement to avoid an August trial date. If approved, it would become the largest settlement in SJPD history, surpassing the Green case.

The 2020 George Floyd protest period generated two separate settlement tranches for SJPD. In September 2023, the city paid $3.35 million to five protesters injured by officers during summer 2020 demonstrations. Officer Jared Yuen became publicly identified in connection with these cases after video footage showed him firing pepper balls at protesters. A second tranche of $620,000 was approved in June 2025, covering additional protest injury claims from the same period. Yuen remains employed by SJPD as of the dataset's coverage window.

San Jose is classified as a Non–Consent Decree Dataset in the PoliceRiskIndex system. California's Public Records Act (CPRA) is among the strongest in the country, and Assembly Bill 1421 (2018) requires law enforcement agencies to disclose records of officer shootings and sustained misconduct findings. For insurance underwriters, the SJPD dataset illustrates a rapidly escalating cost trajectory: from $450,000 in 2020 to $8 million in a single settlement in 2026 - a 17-fold increase in per-case exposure over six years.