San Jose Police Officer who Shot Dead Unarmed Latino Man on Trial.

The plainclothes state narcotics and parole agents staking out a San Jose  house were looking for a parole violator who was at least 7 inches taller and  50 pounds heavier than Rodolfo "Rudy" Cardenas, 43, a San Jose construction  worker, who drove up in a van to visit the wanted man. But when Cardenas sped off for unknown reasons, he was chased by agents  in unmarked vehicles and later on foot. As Cardenas ran around a building into  a parking lot, narcotics agent Michael Walker allegedly fired through a fence,  hitting the man in the back. Most troubling, the dead man's family and  ambulance records say, after the shooting, paramedics were held back by police  for five critical minutes as Cardenas was bleeding to death. Walker said he shot Cardenas, who was running away from him, only after the man turned slightly toward him, and Walker thought he saw a gun in his hands. No firearm was ever found on Cardenas or at the scene. San Jose police officers who patted down the father of five right after he was shot also did not find a weapon. But later, a crime scene investigator going through Cardenas' bloody clothes found a folding four-inch knife with a black handle in his left, front pants pocket. Walker said that could have been the object he mistook for a gun. [more]and [more] Pictured above: Rudy Cardenas.