In the summer of 1971, Sergeant John V. Young was senselessly gunned down at the public service counter inside of the Ingleside Police Station. The murderers were members of a group of career criminals, most of whom had ties to the Black Panther Party and/or the Black Liberation Army. During the late 60s and early 70s, these two groups believed the best way to fight what they saw as " racial oppression" was to kill as many authority figures as possible. Of course then as now, the most accessible authority figures in our society happened to be uniformed police officers. We became their prey!
For many years it was believed in law enforcement circles that the actual triggermen in the Ingleside attack were Herman Bell and Anthony Bottom. It was also common knowledge that Richard Brown, Ray Boudreaux, Henry Jones, Francisco Torres, and Albert Washington were also present that fateful evening and had varying roles in the attack. These pillars of society had committed or conspired to commit hundreds of felonies in the San Francisco Bay Area during that time, including the attempted murder of seven other police officers. Among those attacks was the August 28, 1971 attempted ambush our own Sergeant George Kowalski, now retired. The crime spree also included the bombing of St. Brendan's Church on October 22, 1970, and the attempted bombing of Mission Police Station on March 30, 1971. Their other crimes ranged from armed robbery to aggravated assault, all within the city limits of San Francisco.
In addition, Herman Bell and Anthony Bottom were both given life sentences following convictions for the murders of two New York Police Officers, Waverly Jones and Joseph Piagentini on May 21, 1971. The gun that killed those officers was recovered from them when they attempted to kill Sergeant George Kowalski just three months later.
When sufficient evidence was finally collected some 36 years later, these domestic terrorists were finally charged with the murder of Sgt. John V. Young. Unbelievably, an outpouring of support came forward for these so called " San Francisco Eight." The theory was that they were now old men and whatever crimes they may have committed should be forgiven after so many years. It was truly a black eye, even for San Francisco, to somehow lionize and forgive cold-blooded killers.
To add insult to injury, and in an incredible show of disrespect for every San Francisco Police Officer, a newly elected member of the Board of Supervisors, Eric Mar, proposed a resolution (co- authored by Chris Daly, Ross Mirkirimi, and Sophie Maxwell) asking that charges be dropped against the seven surviving members of the "SF-8".
Never mind the fact that two of these low life's already sat in prison for the aforementioned murder of two New York Police Officers; never mind that this group of losers attempted or conspired to kill seven other police officers along the way; never mind that, old or not, they are common thugs, not martyrs.
Do you think these idiots would have proposed the same legislation protecting Nazi war criminals from Jewish Nazi hunters because they were too old?
No way. Nor should they!
Do you think this legislation would have been passed to forgive former police officer and member of the Board of Supervisors Dan White if he had lived, for the murder of Harvey Milk and George Moscone because he was too old?
I highly doubt it, nor should it ever happen!
It was an unbelievable act of hypocrisy and political grandstanding, and showed an almost incomprehensible lack of empathy and respect for San Francisco police officers in general, and the family and friends of Sgt. john Young in particular.
On the day of that resolution -- June 9, 2009 -- I made a vow that as long as I was president of the SFPOA, and as long as I was a San Francisco police officer, I would do everything in my power to see Eric Mar removed from the Board of Supervisors. I also knew that I would not receive the help of other members of the Board of Supervisors who do not have the spine to join us in this fight. I have asked past and present members of the board to help and they refused. This is my last shot at this guy and I'm not letting go until I have succeeded or failed one last time.
Eric Mar is up for re-election on November 6, 2012. We have a candidate in District 1 that can defeat him by the name of David Lee. We owe it to the family of John Young and every San Francisco police officer, past and present, to avenge the outrageous action taken by Eric Mar and his idiotic cohorts three years ago. We can walk precincts and drop literature in the Richmond District as a way of saying to Sgt. Young that you are not forgotten. Details will be forthcoming on how you can help so please try to give a couple of hours back to honor the memory of Sgt. John V. Young.
