The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office today released surveillance footage that attorneys there say contradicts a police report explaining why an officer pushed and then handcuffed a Richmond district shop owner outside his store.
According to the public defender’s office, police were called to the store to investigate an argument between two men outside of Charles Tran’s store. Tran was not involved in the altercation. The footage shows Tran speaking with an officer before the officer pushes him, handcuffs him, pushes him against the wall, and forces him to sit on the sidewalk by pulling his legs out from under him.
A 27-year-old man was stabbed in the Richmond and a 19-year-old man was struck by gunfire in Oceanview yesterday afternoon. No suspects have been taken into custody in either incident.
The stabbing occurred around 4 PM yesterday afternoon, when the 27-year-old man was standing next to a car on the 200 block of 4th Avenue. Another man, who appears to be known to the victim, snuck up from behind and stabbed him twice in the back. The attacker, described as a 22-year-old Asian man, fled on foot, and the victim received treatment at San Francisco General Hospital for non-life threatening wounds.
The Oceanview shooting took place shortly after 5 PM at the Love & Minnie Ward Recreational Center, where a 19-year-old man was shot twice in the knee by an unknown assailant. The victim received treatment for his injuries at San Francisco General Hospital, but was uncooperative with police and didn’t provide any information about the incident. As of October 15, there were only four shootings this year in SFPD’s Taraval District, which includes the area around Love & Minnie Ward Park. At this point last year, 25 people had been struck by gunfire. Continue reading →
The struggle to bring the San Francisco Police Department’s involvement in the local Joint Terrorism Task Force back under civilian oversight is still dragging on – and the head of the FBI’s San Francisco office appears to be firmly in opposition to any reform efforts.
A memo from the ACLU of Northern California and the Asian Law Caucus to a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors indicates that Special Agent in Charge Stephanie Douglas, who heads the San Francisco Branch of the FBI, is firmly opposed to local regulations that bar police from monitoring people engaged in First Amendment activity.
The ACLU and the Asian Law Caucus say that Special Agent in Charge Stephanie Douglas informed them of her stance on altering SFPD’s participation at a May 31, 2011 meeting. The memo also states that SAC Douglas does not approve of San Francisco’s regulations restricting SFPD from monitoring First Amendment activity. Continue reading →
San Francisco Police arrested a man this morning in connection with a murder that took place last night in Bernal Heights. Around 9:30 PM, SFPD officers were called to the 400 block of Franconia Street, just west of Highway 101, for a report of shots fired.
Officers found a 28-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the head inside a house. The man was pronounced dead at the scene – according to the San Francisco Medical Examiner, the victim’s identity is being withheld pending notification of kin. Media reports have identified the victim as Richard Ray Fowler.
Scene of an officer-involved shooting this morning.
SF Citizen has this pic of the scene at 636 Funston Ave., where an officer reportedly shot and wounded a man this morning. According to the SF Appeal, the man had stabbed two elderly residents. When police arrived, they found a victim outside bleeding, and then entered the residence, where they found another victim, an elderly woman. As they were tending to her, police say a man appeared, holding two knives above his head. Officers apparently tried a less lethal weapon, which didn’t stop the man, before opening fire.
UPDATE: The non-lethal weapon was a bean-bag rifle and the suspect is related to the two victims.
San Francisco and Oakland are experiencing a violent summer
San Francisco police arrested two men in connection with the September 17th murder of Edgar Yegiyan, a 22-year-old Sunset District resident who was shot to death on 35th Avenue and Rivera.
According to police Yegiyan was smoking a cigarette outside a friend’s house when he was approached by two suspects on foot around 1:17 AM. The men shot Yegiyan multiple times in the torso with an assault rifle, then took off running. Yegiyan died at the scene
Konstantin Solodukhin, 22, was arrested by SFPD Airport Bureau officers around 2:44 PM mere hours before he was scheduled to leave the country on a one-way flight. Sgt. Mike Andraychak said inspectors were not ready to disclose Solodukhin’s destination. Solodukhin’s alleged accomplice, Oren Zakhrabov, also 22 years old, was arrested near his residence in the South of Market neighborhood.
Prosecutors have yet to announce charges against Solodukhin and Zakhrabov.
San Francisco Police announced today they are charging a juvenile suspect with the murder of Gaspar Poch-Tzek, a 22-year-old line cook at Mission District restaurant Hogs & Rocks. Poch-Tzek was shot on the evening of August 30th while taking a cigarette break on 19th Street and San Carlos. According to Mission Station Captain Greg Corrales, Poch-Tzek’s assailants were Nortenos who demanded whether the cook was a member of the Sureno gang.
Poch-Tzek was shot and killed even thoguh he denied any affiliation. SFPD Lieutenant Troy Dangerfield said police have no indication the cook had gang ties, “He was just a worker,” Dangerfield said.
The 15-year-old suspect, whose identity is being withheld because he is a minor, was already being held at the Juvenile Justice Center for an unrelated charge when SFPD arrested him for Poch-Tzek’s killing. Lieutenant Dangerfield said the arrest was the result of significant community cooperation with Homicide and Gang Task Force inspectors. Continue reading →
The case of Randall Dunklin, the 55-year-old man who was shot and wounded in the South of Market neighborhood by San Francisco Police officers after allegedly stabbing an officer who pepper-sprayed him, caused a mini-uproar this winter after video of the incident was posted on the Internet. Dunklin’s shooting came hard on the heels of another officer-involved shooting by SFPD officers in the Portola district, when 46-year-old Vinh Bui was killed after refusing commands to drop a knife.
Both Dunklin, Bui and two other people shot by SFPD officers in 2010 had histories of mental illness, prompting SFPD and the Police Commission to overhaul the department’s training for dealing with mentally ill people.
However, Dunklin’s court proceedings for charges of assaulting an officer and vandalism (SFPD contacted him on January 4th because he was allegedly slashing tires near 10th and Howard Street) is highlighting the effect on San Francisco’s legal system of former Mayor Gavin Newsom’s decision to appoint SFPD Chief George Gascón as District Attorney on January 9, five days after Dunklin was shot.
The subsequent investigation of that shooting is being handled by California Attorney General Kamala Harris to avoid conflicts of interest. However, because the Attorney General has not concluded their investigation, on Wednesday morning San Francisco Superior Court Judge Carol Yaggy made the unusual decision of refusing to allow Dunklin’s attorney to question two SFPD officers about statements they made to investigators after the shooting. Continue reading →
