Body camera footage of officer shooting that injured Steffon Nutall (San Diego Police via KFMB).
A California man is headed to prison for child endangerment and other charges after a cop shot him during a domestic violence call while he was holding his infant daughter and a cellphone an officer thought was a gun.
Steffon Nutall, 30, was sentenced Thursday to 14 years and eight months behind bars for the incident that occurred in May 2024 in San Diego, prosecutors told Law&Crime in an email. He pleaded guilty in March to child endangerment, assault with a semiautomatic firearm and felon in possession of a firearm.
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Meanwhile, Nutall has filed a federal lawsuit against the San Diego Police Department and the cop who shot him, claiming it was excessive.
According to San Diego police, Nutall’s ex-girlfriend called 911 around 10:20 p.m. May 19, 2024, after he showed up to her front door and threatened to open fire if she did not let him inside. Once inside, Nutall pointed a gun at the woman and grabbed their 11-month old daughter before fleeing the apartment.
Officer Robert Gladysz, who had been with the agency less than two years, spotted Nutall hiding in a bush.
“Show me your f—ing hands,” Gladysz is heard saying in body camera footage obtained by local CBS affiliate KFMB. “Show me your f—ing hands or you’re getting shot.”
Nutall held up a black object that Gladysz thought was a gun. It was actually a phone.
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Gladysz reportedly opened fire 11 times, hitting Nutall with four bullets.
“I didn’t see a kid, I saw a gun,” Gladysz later said.
It turned out Nutall had ditched the gun in the parking lot as he was running away and before he hid in the bush.
Cops rescued the girl, who was unharmed and later returned to family. Nutall suffered serious injuries and now has difficulty walking, his attorneys say.
According to a courtroom report from the City News Service, Nutall reiterated during his sentencing hearing he did not have a gun.
“He had no reason to shoot at me, period,” he reportedly said.
He also said he was there to protect his daughter and didn’t intend to put the girl in harm’s way.
In the lawsuit, Nutall claims the shooting was “unnecessary.” From the suit, which was filed in the U.S. Southern District of California:
At no time during this incident did Plaintiff pose any reasonable or credible threat of violence to the Defendant Officer Gladysz, nor did Plaintiff do anything to justify the deadly force used against him. That force used against him was excessive, unnecessary, and unlawful. Both prior to and during the time in which he was shot, Plaintiff posed no reasonable threat of violence to the Defendant Officer Gladysz, or any other individual. At no time during this incident did Plaintiff pose any reasonable or credible threat of violence to the Defendant Officer Gladysz, nor did Plaintiff do anything to justify the deadly force used against him. That force used against him was excessive, unnecessary, and unlawful. Both prior to and during the time in which he was shot, Plaintiff posed no reasonable threat of violence to the Defendant Officer Gladysz, or any other individual.
Nutall claims Gladysz deprived him of his civil rights and assaulted him. The case is ongoing.
