Body camera footage of officer shooting that injured Steffon Nutall (San Diego Police via KFMB).
A man from California is going to prison for child endangerment and other crimes after being shot by a police officer during a domestic violence incident, where he was holding his baby daughter and a cellphone mistakenly believed to be a weapon.
Steffon Nutall, 30, received a sentence of 14 years and eight months in prison following the May 2024 incident in San Diego, as shared by prosecutors with Law&Crime via email. In March, he admitted to charges of child endangerment, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, and being a 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.
The San Diego police reported that Nutall’s former girlfriend called 911 at approximately 10:20 p.m. on May 19, 2024, after he threatened to shoot if she did not allow him entry. Once inside, Nutall waved a gun at her and then took their 11-month-old daughter before leaving 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.
