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The Silence Is Deafening

March 1, 2016
Martin Halloran SFPOA President

Over the past eighteen months, there have been calls nationwide for either reforms, overhauls, or federal investigations of specific police departments, or law enforcement in general. San Francisco is no longer immune from these very same calls even though the true facts of the case in our city are completely different than cases in other cities. But as someone once said "Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story."

Since the officer involved shooting in the Bayview District on December 2, 2015 that tragically took the life of a 26-year old knife wielding man who refused to drop his weapon, and who was wanted for the stabbing an innocent victim earlier, there have been outcries. Some of the protesters have also called for the officers involved to be indicted, the Chief to be terminated, and the Mayor to resign.

There have also been certain elected and appointed government officials from the Board of Supervisors and the Police Commission who have publicly label these officers as "an ethnically diverse firing squad" or as "executioners." The ultra liberal leftist director of the San Francisco Labor Council went so far as to demand that the officers be charged with murder and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

All of these unfair, inflammatory and knee jerk statements were almost solely based on 8 seconds of video. None of these groups or individuals bothered to gather any facts surrounding this shooting, nor did they even acknowledge that the three open investigations being conducted by the District Attorney's Office, the Office of Citizens Complaints, and the Homicide Bureau had reached their findings. It was simply ignored by all the political panderers because it did not fit their narratives or political agendas.

Even though these active investigations are ongoing, the San Francisco Chronicle published a factual account of this incident, in early February, based on official SFPD documents that were brought to their attention. Coupled with that, the San Francisco Medical Examiners Office released the toxicology report on Mario Woods on February 11th which stated in part that Woods had methamphetamine, amphetamine, anti-depressants, and marijuana in his system at the time of his death.

Now factor in the response from the San Francisco City Attorney Office, on February 12th, to the federal law suit filed by the Woods file. Once again the facts of the case were outlined in this brief and it states in part: 

"The officers' actions were well within the settled parameters regarding the use of lethal force by police officers as spelled out by the United States Supreme Court, including Tennessee v. Garner (1985) and Graham v. Connor (1989), and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, including Blanford v. sacramento County (2005). Police officers need not use the least intrusive form of force when dealing with an armed suspect who poses a threat to the public or police officers. Police officers need not wait until they or a member of the public are assaulted before using lethal force to effect an arrest. When a suspect refuses to disarm and refuses to surrender peacefully, officers may use such force as is necessary to protect the public and themselves, and to effect the arrest."

Bear in mind that San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera is a former President of the San Francisco Police Commission, so he has a formidable amount of experience reviewing and rendering decisions related to officer involved shootings.

With all of these facts now being released by the recognized and designated city departments tasked with providing official conclusions, the POA would have hoped that those who had prematurely and unjustly cast stones at the officers and the department might now come forward to clear the record and recant their statements. As of this writing, no such luck. Their silence is deafening.

 

Slainte!