SAN JOSE — A new court filing has revealed dozens more racist and offensive text messages from a disgraced ex-cop who resigned under pressure upon the discovery of writings that insulted and mocked a Black man he shot and wounded and others wherein he professed a hatred for Black people.
A federal judge late last year ordered the release of more texts from Mark McNamara as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by attorneys for K’aun Green against the former officer, the San Jose Police Department and the city over a controversial shooting that seriously injured Green.
The messages surfaced publicly in a Jan. 12 motion filed by Green’s legal team, Lawyers for the People, that asks Judge Nathanael Cousins to default in favor of Green based on claims that McNamara’s deletion of his social media accounts amid the active litigation amounted to illegally destroying evidence.
Green’s attorneys contend in the motion that they intended to search McNamara’s social media posts for further proof that McNamara’s shooting of Green in March 2022 was driven by racial animus.
“McNamara’s purging of his social media accounts that contained more racial slurs, explanation of his hatred of African Americans and motivation in shooting Plaintiff is the equivalent of the criminal suspect that flushes the remaining drugs down the toilet during a house raid,” reads the motion written by Green’s attorney, Patrick Buelna.
The motion cites a claim by McNamara that he deleted his Facebook and Instagram accounts “due to hate messages and threats he received.” Buelna called it an “intentional act” to frustrate the plaintiff’s case and that none of the sought-after material was recoverable.
In arguing that the former officer’s social media activity would likely have aided their case, Green’s legal team disclosed more than 300 new texts sent in June and July 2023 between McNamara and at least two other officers — one currently with SJPD and one formerly with the agency — in which McNamara prolifically and casually used the n-word.
McNamara also repeated the most cutting sentiment from the first batch of his texts revealed by the San Jose Police Department in November, when the department announced he had resigned and that the current officer engaged in the correspondence was put on administrative leave: “I hate black people.”
In the newly disclosed trove, McNamara repeated the statement verbatim in one text and upped it further in another: “I hate black people more than I hate being a cop.”
About five dozen of the new messages show McNamara using the n-word to refer to Black people, as well as the other people with whom he was messaging, who similarly wrote the word back at him. Buelna writes in the motion that McNamara claimed inspiration from Black actors and comedians in taking license to wield the slur.
“He testified that the use of the word and description of black people were all jokes,” the filing reads. “He testified that he watched movies with actors like Martin Lawrence, Will Smith and Samuel L. Jackson … and standup comedy from Dave (Chappelle) that inspired him to use the racial slurs.”
In other messages, McNamara used slurs to insult and mock gay people, women and, in one instance, an Asian doctor.
What appeared to be direct references to McNamara’s shooting of Green was revealed in the first set of texts released last fall, which chronicled the former officer’s state of mind in the wake of the shooting and as Green’s excessive-force lawsuit got off the ground:
“N— wanted to carry a gun in the Wild West … Not on my watch.”
“They should all be bowing to me and bringing me gifts since I saved a fellow n— by making him rich as f—. Otherwise, he woulda lived a life of poverty and crime.”
“The other day this n— lawyer is like Mr. McNamara, you know we can still find you guilty of excessive force right? I’m like, hmmm yeah then (what) happens?? … Think I give a f— what y’all n— think?!???? I’ll shoot you too!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!”
Green was shot in the early morning hours of March 27, 2022, in what became an infamous case because Green had been a peacemaker in a brawl that erupted inside a taqueria near San Jose State University. He disarmed a gun from one of the combatants and was backing away from them toward the restaurant entrance, holding the gun high in the air and keeping it away from two men who continued to reach for the weapon.
Security footage shows McNamara and other officers out front yelling at Green to drop the gun. Green turned slightly toward the officers, and it appeared that once he recognized them, he showed his hands. But by that point McNamara fired four shots in quick succession.
The veiled threat against Green’s attorneys was the basis of a gun-violence restraining order the police department secured against McNamara around the same time it submitted his name for state decertification to prohibit him from serving as a police officer again in California. The restraining order, which was among the terms of McNamara’s resignation, barred him from possessing 10 rifles, four shotguns and four pistols he kept at his home until late May.
Outgoing SJPD Chief Anthony Mata announced earlier this year that the former SJPD officer who participated in McNamara’s texts was severed from his out-of-state police job after that unnamed agency was informed of his involvement in the scandal. Mata said the identity of the current officer who texted with McNamara was legally barred from public disclosure due to privacy and personnel restrictions.
But Judge Cousins, in his December ruling that ordered the city to release the second batch of texts to Buelna and his firm, also ordered the disclosure of the two officers’ names to the attorneys. Those names were not included in the latest court filing.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.