Bayview-Hunter’s Point

SFPD names officers in Kenneth Harding shooting

The two San Francisco police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Washington State parolee Kenneth Harding last month were named in a letter from SFPD to the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

In response to a Sunshine Ordiance request filed by ACLU Norcal attorney Michael Risher, SFPD identified Matthew Lopez and Richard Hastings as the two officers who fired on Harding.

Harding, who was 19 at the time of his death, fled from SFPD officers who were conducting fare checks at the Muni Platform on Third Street. Though the officers didn’t know it at the time, Harding was on parole from Washington State and was considered a person of interest in a Seattle homicide earlier in July. Harding fired on SFPD officers as he fled. Harding and Lopez returned fire, striking him in the leg.

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FILED UNDER: Police, Bayview-Hunter's Point, Kenneth Harding, Officer-involved shootings, San Francisco, San Francisco Police Department

January 31, 2011 | 11:28 AM | By Ali Winston

Three murdered in San Francisco on Sunday

lawreports.co.uk

Two shootings within five minutes of one another left three people dead, raising San Francisco’s murder rate to 11 for 2011. There were five murders at this point last year. The killings took place in Potrero Hill and Fisherman’s Wharf in very different circumstances.

Around 8:15 PM, 33-year-old Sylvestri Brown got into an argument with two men on the 900 block of Connecticut Street. The dispute escalated, and one of the men shot Brown in the torso. Police responded to the scene and arrested Antoine Gray, 29, and Toyia Taylor, both of San Francisco. Both Gray and Taylor have been charged with homicide. Brown was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where he died of his wounds.

Across the city, a business dispute in Fisherman’s Wharf took a deadly turn. Around 8:20 PM, 53-year-old Hong Ri Wu walked into a souvenir store on the 200 block of Jefferson Street and confronted two employees working there about similar merchandise sold by both stores. Wu then pulled a handgun and shot Qiong Han Chu, 30 and Feng Ping Ou, 30, in the torso. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

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FILED UNDER: Police, Bayview-Hunter's Point, Fisherman's Wharf, murder, San Francisco, San Francisco Police Department

January 20, 2011 | 5:18 PM | By Ali Winston

San Francisco’s gang injunctions, four years on

Are San Francisco's gang injunctions working?By Ali Winston Download

Norteño gang graffiti. Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/metalcowboy/2761077635/#/

Four years ago, San Francisco faced a stubbornly high crime rate. To fight back, City Attorney Dennis Herrera and the police department turned to a controversial crime strategy – the gang injunction. It’s a public nuisance lawsuit filed in civil court that restricts the movements and actions of individuals accused of membership in a street gang. Violators are charged with a misdemeanor and face fines or up to six months in jail.

San Francisco’s first injunction was implemented in the Bayview in 2006, against 25 alleged members of the “Oakdale Mob” street gang.

Over the next three years, further injunctions were obtained against groups in the Western Addition,the Mission District and most recently, Visitacion Valley. The City Attorney and SFPD claim the injunctions have contributed to reductions in crime, but some residents say they result in police harassment of black and latino youth and pave the way for gentrification.

KALW’s Ali Winston reports.

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FILED UNDER: Police, Bayview-Hunter's Point, Gang Injunctions, Mission District, San Francisco, San Francisco Police Department, Visitacion Valley, Western Addition

January 20, 2011 | 4:59 PM | By Ali Winston

SF Marijuana busts mostly in the Sunset, Ingleside and Bayview-Hunter’s Point

Timothy Smith

Last month, we brought you partial statistics for marijuana grow busts by the San Francisco Police Department: roughly 13,500 plants worth an estimated $11.5 million were seized from 59 indoor grows from January through September of 2010.

SFPD Sgt. Mike Andraychak got back to us yesterday with the year-end tally from the Narcotics Division. And those last few months were fruitful. Approximately 19,000 plants were seized from 87 locations in total. The plants are work up to $15.7 million, although street prices for marijuana have since declined since SFPD provided us with their original figures (kudos to SF Weekly).

68 people were arrested in the raids, and 20 guns were seized. Thirty-two percent of the locations, or 27 sites, were electrical by-passes.

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