In 24 hours’ time, we’re going to have a new mayor. It’s going to be exciting. It’s going to be crowded. Perhaps 1,000 people are expected to show up at 11 a.m. on a working day and watch London Breed’s swearing-in. It’ll be outdoors. Bring a hat. Life is complicated. San Francisco is complicated. The mayor’s race was complicated. But...
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...
San Francisco’s District Attorney will not be filing criminal charges against officers involved in two separate shootings that led to the deaths of Luis Gongora Pat and Mario Woods. D.A. Gascon said in a statement that “use of force could only be charged if we can prove it was unreasonable for the officer to be in fear for their life...
District Attorney George Gascón will make a decision in six to eight weeks on whether to charge the officers who fatally shot a homeless man in the Mission in April 2016, said Adriana Camarena, an advocate for the man’s family who met with Gascón on Wednesday. Camarena said that during the meeting, Gascón gave her and the family of Luis...
The rookie cop who was still on probation when he shot and killed an unarmed suspect in December, is likely to escape criminal charges, according to several use-of-force experts. Nonetheless, most agreed that a 30-second video shows apparent and significant breaches of procedure, and one of the experts felt these were major enough to warrant firing the officer who is...
A group of men and women who were arrested in connection with an illegal gambling den earlier this month have each been charged with a felony and two misdemeanor counts, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday. The defendants — Kenneth Gurriere, 56, Richard Mohler, 34, Malcolm Brian Vasquez, 49, and Marjorie Delacruz, 49 — have been charged with felony...
Car break-ins in San Francisco have reached epidemic proportions, and city employees aren’t immune. Now it’s the Office of the District Attorney’s turn. Thankfully, it wasn’t a gun stolen from a car this time. But the item lost to a burglar or burglars is tied to San Francisco homicides. An alert sent to San Francisco police officers this week noted...
A homeless man who entered a Mission home last November allegedly seeking shelter was acquitted Tuesday of burglary charges that carry a 17-year sentence. The acquittal came some five months after Phillip Martinez’ November 3 arrest. Unable to post the $100,000 bail, Martinez has been in jail. He remains in jail on an unrelated misdemeanor charge but his lawyer said...
None of the officers involved in fatal confrontations with some 40 civilians shot and killed at the hands of San Francisco police since 2000 has stood a criminal trial. On Monday, anti-police-brutality advocates, city leaders, and family members of police shooting victims gathered on the steps of the Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant St. to demand that the city’s...
Traduccion en español aquí. A city investigation has found that a San Francisco police officer involved in the fatal shooting of Alex Nieto made inappropriate comments on social media in reference to the deceased and may face disciplinary action. The Office of Citizens Complaints found that Roger Morse, one of the police officers who shot and killed Nieto in 2014,...
Protocol breaches at the scene of a fatal police shooting last year, a District Attorney spokesperson said, are part of an ongoing problem the District Attorney has with police investigations of shootings by officers. The District Attorney, though he has never indicated the actions amounted to a cover-up, is taking steps to ensure that the police department is not the...
The District Attorney announced Friday that the four officers involved in the fatal shooting of Alex Nieto in March 2014 on Bernal Hill, will not face criminal charges. The prosecutor determined the shooting was in self defense. KTVU reports that District Attorney’s office said Sergeant Jason Sawyer, Officer Richard Schiff, Officer Roger Morse and Officer Nathan Chew acted “lawfully in...
Children and youth who are witnesses of violent crime can get up to $5,000 in reimbursement for mental health counseling through California’s Victim Compensation Program, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón announced Wednesday. The goals of the program are to provide counseling to prevent children and youth who are exposed to violence from suffering profound emotional trauma, Gascón said, and to aid them in reaching their...
District Attorney George Gascón gave reporters an update Wednesday morning on his office’s 18-month-old Neighborhood Prosecutor Initiative, and announced his plan for a program for juvenile offenders throughout the city. The initiative aims to curb recidivism and keep nonviolent infractions out of the criminal court system. Currently there are nine neighborhood courts, each assigned a prosecutor who works with two...
It's 6:05 a.m., with a low of 54° and a high of 74.° Sunnier than yesterday, mercifully. City Insider reports on a lack of data that could be useful in the sit/lie debate.
