A former Marin sheriff’s deputy who fired 16 shots at a fleeing suspect in 2013 — wounding the suspect, inflaming racial tensions in Marin City and costing the county a legal settlement of nearly $600,000 — had a record of disciplinary problems before and after the shooting, according to newly released documents.

Evan Kubota, who joined the sheriff’s department in 2008, was suspended two times and reprimanded once for a series of policy violations between 2010 and 2013. But none of the incidents involved excessive force allegations, and Kubota maintained his badge and his patrol assignment.

The disciplinary actions included:

• A 2010 reprimand for frightening a child by using a Taser beam, rather than a flashlight, to illuminate the scene at a grade school where youths were suspected of vandalism.

• A one-day suspension without pay in 2012 for leaving his patrol car open and running, allowing someone to jump in and try to steal it.

• A three-day suspension without pay for tipping friends in March 2013 to the location of a DUI checkpoint in Novato, where a deputy’s retirement party was scheduled. “The DUI Checkpoint might be at De Long and Redwood…wink wink,” he wrote in an email he sent to numerous people in law enforcement.

In addition, three months after the Marin City shooting, he received an unpaid 14-day suspension for allegedly running across Highway 101 in pursuit of a low-level offender. He is still appealing that suspension.

Kubota’s disciplinary record, previously sealed under police employee confidentiality rules, was revealed in a new decision on Kubota’s employment status by the Marin County Personnel Commission.

The new decision, issued two weeks ago, reaffirms the commission’s earlier finding: Kubota should be demoted to a nonsworn job but that outright termination was excessive.

Kubota and his lawyers declined to make a statement about the new decision. He remains in a record-processing position at the Marin County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff Robert Doyle declined to comment on Kubota’s prior disciplinary record.

Kubota fired

The shooting occurred on July 7, 2013, when Kubota stopped Chaka Grayson in Marin City on suspicion of driving with a suspended license. Grayson, a parolee, ducked inside the car and refused to show his hands.

Kubota, rather than back off and call for assistance, drew his 16-bullet Glock and continued toward the car. Grayson then tried to drive away.

Kubota opened fire, continuing to shoot even after Grayson’s car had passed. Kubota emptied the gun and Grayson was hit three times.

Kubota, a combat veteran who served in Iraq, said he thought his life was in danger.

Grayson was treated at Marin General Hospital. He was arrested later on suspicion of assaulting the deputy with his car.

The Novato Police Department conducted an independent investigation and recommended that prosecutors charge Grayson with assault with a deadly weapon.

The Marin County District Attorney’s Office initially filed misdemeanor charges but eventually dropped the case altogether after additional information came in about Kubota’s conduct.

The sheriff’s department fired Kubota a few weeks later, in August 2014. He appealed to the personnel commission, which held hearings and voted 3-2 to restore Kubota to an office job.

Kubota then sued for full reinstatement to deputy. After extended litigation, Judge Paul Haakenson tentatively ruled last fall in support of the personnel commission. But then he sent the matter back to the commission for additional review.

Bad judgment

On March 15, the commission reaffirmed its earlier decision. It said Kubota displayed incompetence, bad judgment and discreditable conduct, but he did not violate the department’s firearm policies by shooting at a moving car.

The vote in the second decision was 5-0. The commission’s membership changed slightly between the first and second decisions.

“Kubota’s record is replete with other instances of questionable judgment,” the commission said in its decision, signed by acting chairman Lawrence Kaplan. “He may well have other talents, and indeed the recognition of those talents by both Sheriff Doyle and Undersheriff (Michael) Ridgway plainly influenced the Commission in its prior decision to retain Kubota in County employment.

“But this most recent incident, when viewed against the backdrop of Kubota’s prior record, demonstrates that he should not be carrying a gun with a badge around Marin County any longer.”

Grayson filed a $10 million federal lawsuit against Kubota and the county, saying he suffered nerve damage and permanent injuries that have ruined his ability to earn a living as a laborer. The county settled the case for $585,000 in late 2015.

Kubota’s base annual salary as a records specialist is $62,751, said Mary Hao, director of the county Department of Human Resources. As a sheriff’s deputy, his base annual salary was $99,558.