SAN DIEGO—A man accused of abducting his infant daughter and who was holding the baby when a San Diego police officer shot him filed a federal lawsuit this week against the officer and the city of San Diego.
Steffon Nutall was shot on May 19 after police say he threatened his ex-girlfriend, then took their child from the woman’s Chollas View-area apartment.
Officers spotted him, then chased him on foot and he was shot multiple times, according to police.
In a complaint filed Wednesday in federal court, Nutall alleges Officer Robert Gladysz used “excessive, unnecessary and unlawful” force by opening fire on him.
The gunshot wounds have left Nutall “severely limited in his ability to walk or move his legs, and consequently, needs the aid of a wheelchair for mobility,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit also alleges Nutall did not “pose any reasonable or credible threat of violence” to the officer, nor did he “do anything to justify the deadly force used against him.”
Nutall was hospitalized, and later arrested and charged by local prosecutors. He remains in custody without bail on charges that include assault.
The events that led to the shooting began shortly before 10:30 p.m. May 19 when Nutall allegedly showed up at the woman’s 47th Street residence, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
The victim made a 911 call to report that a former boyfriend was outside her home, saying he would shoot through the front door if she would not let him in, sheriff’s Lt. Michael Krugh said. When she complied with his demands, he allegedly threatened to shoot her, then snatched their baby daughter and walked out of the residence.
Seeing arriving police officers, the suspect ran off through the apartment complex, crossed a set of trolley tracks, ran across a parking lot at 47th Street Trolley Station and entered a residential complex in the 200 block of 47th Street. Police soon found him there, hiding in a patch of shrubbery.
The suspect allegedly ignored Gladysz’s repeated orders to disarm himself and surrender, then jumped up with some sort of dark-colored object in his right hand, prompting Gladysz to open fire, police said.
“It was [then] learned the suspect was holding his daughter during the ... shooting,” the lieutenant said. “The child was unharmed and was returned to her family.”
In video footage released by the police department, Gladysz is seen telling a fellow officer that he “didn’t see a kid” but saw Nutall holding a gun.
