San Francisco police officer Elia Lewin-Tankel (left)
SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - A San Francisco jury on Thursday convicted a man following a hit-and-run crash that severely injured a police officer in 2017, drawing praise from the police officer's union.
"The jury saw that Willie Flanigan was a dangerous repeat offender who had no regard for others and they ensured he will be held accountable for his deplorable actions," union president Tony Montoya said in a statement.
Montoya said that the department is still praying for Officer Elia Lewin-Tankel, who was left "nearly dead" and still has significant brain damage to this day.
Lewin-Tankel was riding his bike when Flanigan, aka Marquise Johnson, ran him over with an SUV.
In 2017, Flanigan gave an exclusive jailhouse interview to KTVU, Jwhere he claimed that he suffered from PTSD, fallout he believes from an alleged police beating back in 2014.