No surprise, activists say, in DA’s decision to clear police in fatal shootings
Activists pushing to end fatal police shootings said they were upset but not surprised by the San Francisco District Attorney’s decision Thursday to not file criminal charges in two high-profile cases: the 2015 shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview, and the 2016 shooting of Luis Góngora Pat in the Mission.
Though both shootings drew national attention to San Francisco —back-up dancers for Beyonce dangled a “Justice for Mario Woods” sign at Levi’s Stadium during the 2016 Super Bowl —the reaction on Thursday was one of subdued resignation. Several passerby in San Francisco’s Mission and Bayview districts seemed to have forgotten about the two slain men, and some gave puzzled looks when asked for comment.
For people involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, the decision of District Attorney George Gascón underscores what they said is a corrosive relationship between police officers and people of color, even in a city that prides itself as being liberal and progressive.
In a grim news conference held shortly after the 11:30 a.m. announcement, relatives of Góngora Pat described San Francisco police officers as “killers.”
“Those killers are running loose on the street,” said Carlos Poot Pat, a cousin of the slain homeless man who was shot in April 2016 after he allegedly charged at police with a large kitchen knife. “Be careful out there because now you know that if the police harm or kill you, you will have no justice.”
Oakland attorney Adante Pointer, who is representing the family of Góngora Pat and Woods’ mother, Gwen Woods, in a federal civil rights lawsuits against San Francisco, told reporters that community members will seek justice “in other venues and other courtrooms” if they can’t get it from Gascón.
He also signaled that the district attorney’s refusal to file charges against the officers could hurt his reelection bid in 2019. Gascón will fight to retain his seat amid a growing movement to challenge district attorneys who are perceived as being too soft on police shootings.
Cephus Johnson, a Black Lives Matter activist who is the uncle of Oscar Grant, the unarmed BART passenger fatally shot by a BART police officer in 2009, marveled at how rare it is for police to face punishment for these killings.
“Even for Oscar, we barely got a conviction,” Johnson said, noting that the high-profile case — which sparked riots in downtown Oakland — culminated with an 11-month prison sentence for the officer, Johannes Mehserle, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
On Thursday, Johnson was at the Capitol building in Sacramento with other activists, rallying for two state bills that would raise the legal standard for officers using force against suspects.
AB 931 would limit the use of deadly force to situations in which someone’s life is in imminent danger. SB 1421 would release police personnel records to the public after an officer is accused of killing or injuring a suspect, committing sexual assault or lying on the job.
Cat Brooks, co-founder of Oakland’s Anti-Police Terror Project, was with Johnson at the state Capitol on Thursday. She called Gascón’s decision a signal that “Black Lives don’t matter.”
She and Johnson pointed out that police did not shoot two white teens who were recently accused of high-profile mass killings in high schools in Florida and Texas.
“I could list 100 white folks who have committed egregious acts of violence, and law enforcement took them in alive,” Brooks said. “Someone is going to have to start explaining to us why that is.”
Gascón defended his decision, saying he could only charge an officer for use of force if he could prove it was “unreasonable for the officer to be in fear of their life or someone else’s.”
That rationale didn’t fly with Public Defender Jeff Adachi.
“A hail of bullets is not an appropriate police response to people suffering mental health crises,” the public defender said in a statement, in which he accused Gascón of holding police officers to a different standard than average citizens.
Other law enforcement officials stood by the district attorney.
“I’m sure the district attorney’s office did a comprehensive investigation,” said former San Francisco Police Chief Tony Ribera, who is now an assistant professor at the University of San Francisco, focusing on public administration.
He said the anger that errupts over these shootings is often a response to how many bullets are fired, but that’s not part of the evaluation of whether the shooting is justified.
Mayor Mark Farrell said in his own statement that he respects Gascón’s findings, and that he’s confident that San Francisco police officers “take very seriously their responsibilities to protect the public and earn the trust of communities.”
He said the city is committed to reforms it began two years ago after the Woods shooting and a string of other deadly police encounters. That process is now being overseen by state Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
