“These videos do not look good,” Supervisor Aaron Peskin tells police Within the darkened hall of American Legion Cathay Post No. 384, police on Thursday night unveiled video footage from the city’s most recent officer-involved shooting, a chaotic June 9 affair. A crowd of around 50 gazed at the cream-colored screen that replayed the moments leading up to the shooting....
A group of Mission District-based activists — freshly enraged by District Attorney George Gascón’s recent decision not to file charges against officers involved in two controversial police shootings — shut down a blue ribbon panel organized to talk about police accountability. The panel included the dean of UC Berkeley’s Law School, Erwin Chemerinsky, and Commander Peter Walsh from the SFPD. The scene...
The two men arrested on Sunday in connection with a fatal shooting in the Mission District were promptly released early this week, pending a law enforcement investigation. Robert Salvador, 22, was released Monday, and 28-year-old Sandie Harden was released Tuesday, said Nancy Crowley, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department. Both men had been arrested in connection with the...
The officers embroiled in a scandal involving text messages that referred to blacks as “savages” and gays as “fags” managed to remain on paid leave and almost escape discipline, but a Wednesday ruling sends them back to court and could end in the firings that the former chief of police ordered in the spring of 2015. An appeals judge on...
Update (11:55 a.m.): SB1421 has been passed out of committee and is now headed for a Senate floor vote. This is the farthest legislation aimed at making police misconduct records public has gone in a decades-long effort. “We commend the Senate Appropriations Committee’s passage of SB 1421 and look forward to seeing the bill to the finish line to increase...
In the wake of former Police Commission President Julius Turman’s death last Saturday evening, friends and colleges remembered the Alabama native as a man with a quick wit and fighting spirit who was committed to public service until the very end. Turman, 52, died of cancer at his home in Potrero Hill. “He loved this city,” said former District 9...
On Thursday, Listen Local sat down with Father Richard Smith of Faith In Action, a network of religious communities that advocate for police reform. The topic of discussion is Proposition H, a June 5 ballot measure that would arm San Francisco Police officers with Tasers. Sounds simple, right? Not exactly, says Smith. The Police Commission, the civilian oversight body that...
The Afghani-born San Francisco police officer who last month claimed to be the victim of anti-Muslim racism and harassment is the same man who, in 2013, was deemed a “CIA Agent Impersonator” by the Napa Police Department, Mission Local has confirmed. The man “met a female on a dating website,” begins the bulletin. “He used the name Danny Costello. …...
Update: As of Friday, approvals for mayoral nominees Sonia Melara and Joe Marshall have been scheduled for Tuesday’s Rules Committee hearing. Petra DeJesus described Julius Turman as refreshingly “blunt.” Thomas Mazzucco described him as “honest,” and compared his integrity to that of Robert Mueller, III. Bob Hirsch said his “bedside manner can be very rough,” but his “heart and mind are admirable.”...
And with a position open in LA, will he stay long enough to find out? At a town hall meeting called to address a recent Mission District police shooting, Police Chief Bill Scott sat in the gym of Cesar Chavez Elementary, facing a crowd of more than 200 outraged community members. Another young man of color had been slain at...
The San Francisco Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office are seriously lacking in how they handle rape cases, and it’s unclear how or how quickly they will make improvements – if at all. That was made clear at a Wednesday Board of Supervisors hearing called by District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who said she had received a multitude of...
“I’d rather be hit by a Taser than a bullet,” says anti-gun advocate On Wednesday, the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, civil rights attorney John Burris, along with the organization Brothers Against Guns, announced their support for arming San Francisco police with Tasers. But only if the weapons’ use policy is subject to strict civilian oversight. “On...
The slogan of the day was, “No justice, no deal.” That’s what activists chanted outside the main chamber of City Hall on Wednesday in preparation for a Board of Supervisors hearing aimed at ongoing contract negotiations between the city and the San Francisco Police Officers Association, or POA. Much of the hearing revolved around the minutiae of the contract —...
The San Francisco Police Department has released the names of the ten officers who fatally shot at an armed robbery suspect who shot at them from the trunk of a car on 20th and Capp streets last Wednesday night. They fired 99 times and hit the 19-year-old man, identified as Jesus Delgado-Duarte, 25 times. Their names are: Stephen Cassinelli, Corbyn...
What was, by all appearances, shaping up to be a circus of a Police Commission meeting quickly became a snoozy policy discussion that concluded with a 6-1 vote by the commission to adopt SFPD’s Taser policy. “I had a nice speech, but this went on so long, you don’t even need Tasers no more,” said Darnell Boyd, a community member,...
