A Vietnamese student will sue San Jose police officers for using excessive force when arresting him on suspicion of assaulting his roommate, his attorney said in a telephone interview with Tuoi Tre.

“I will represent Phuong to sue the police and San Jose City for their wrongdoing,” lawyer Nguyen Hoang Duyen said, noting many local parliamentarians had expressed their support for the Vietnamese student.

However, Duyen said his immediate concern was defending Phuong against police charges that the student resisted their orders as they tempted to handcuff him after he had a fight with his roommate.

On October 19, Phuong appeared in court, but denied all the charges, Duyen said.

According to the local Mercury News, on September 3, Phuong and his roommate Jeremy Suftin got into a fight after Suftin slopped soap on Phuong’s dinner steak.

Phuong then picked up a steak knife and told Suftin, “In Vietnam, I would kill you for this!”

While Phuong’s threat merely elicited a laugh from the others present, Suftin took it seriously and called the police, the paper said.

By the time the cops arrived, Phuong had dropped the knife and was not armed, eyewitnesses told the newspaper.

However, the police report said Phuong ignored their command and kicked then violently, which prompted them to push him into the hallway, force him to the floor and attempt to handcuff him, it said.

“I know the police was wrong and they themselves know it, so they are trying to accuse Phuong of resisting their order for arrest and that he fought with his friend,” Duyen said.

The lawyer also noted that although the copy of the video posted by Mercury News is grainy which, according to some experts, makes it difficult to come to a conclusion, the original one is very clear, showing that the police used excessive force towards Phuong while he put up no resistance.

Besides, Phuong was known as a student with a good academic performance who had gained the respect of his university’s professors, showing he was not a violent person, Duyen added.

Asked about the charge that Phuong threatened his roommate with a knife, Duyen said “in fact Phuong then used the knife to cut his steak,” and the video also showed that six other roommates then laughed at Phuong’s act as “the knife never posed a threat to anyone.”

Suftin took it seriously, because he and Phuong had previously had a tense conversation, according to Duyen.

Under US laws, Phuong’s statement threatening Suftin during his altercation with the roommate, if found true, are minor offences, he added.

If the police don’t drop their charges, they will take the case to the next higher court on November 16, the lawyer said.

On the other hand, veteran officer Kenneth Siegel – one of the four officers - has said through his attorney that Phuong was “responsible” for the violent confrontation because he combatively resisted his orders, the Mercury News reported on Monday.

This is the first time the officers’ side of the case was being made public, it said.

Despite its poor quality, the video has prompted several local experts to voice their concern. Police chief Rob Davis, the city’s mayor and a city councilman have promised a fair and thorough review of the case, according to the newspaper.

The incident has become a flashpoint in the Vietnamese community, discussed on radio stations, in cafes, and in conversations among community leaders who sought to mobilize an effective response.

Chief Rob Davis sent one of his top-ranked officers, Captain Phan Ngo, to assure members of the Vietnamese community that “we really are digging into their concerns,” the paper said.

Source: Tuoi Tre