SF DA investigating shoving incident involving sheriff's captain and protester

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin on Thursday said his office has received "a large volume of email responses" from people who witnessed an incident between a sheriff's captain and protester, during a George Floyd demonstration. 

Boudin posted video of the May 31 shoving incident on Twitter on Wednesday and announced his office is conducting a criminal investigation into the captain's actions. In the tweet, Boudin asked additional witnesses to come forward.

The video shows a crowd of people involved in a demonstration at Pine and Front streets, in the city's financial district. A captain comes up from behind a man at the protest and shoves him. The man falls to the ground. The man who was pushed, gets up and walks away, and does not appear to be seriously injured.

"If you or I were to push someone from behind with enough force that they fell into the street, especially in front of oncoming traffic, we would be investigated for a crime, no question about it," Boudin said. "A sheriff's captain is no different. They’re not above the law."

The uniformed officer involved in the incident was a captain, "commanding the other staff at the scene," Boudin said.

Boudin said he could not discuss whether he had spoken to the protester who was pushed in the video, and whether the protester had been injured in the fall. "It's premature for me to say whether we will file charges, or what charges we will file."

San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, also on Thursday, announced that his office has begun an internal investigation to determine whether the captain violated professional conduct.

But Miyamoto does not think the captain's actions rise to the level of a criminal investigation.

Miyamoto said that overall, his deputies have behaved professionally during their response to recent protests.

"In spite of the fact we had a sergeant that was pepper-sprayed and we had staff that was spit on, our staff exercised a considerable amount of restraint," he said. "We're fully aware everybody is watching everything. We welcome information that comes in... which calls into question the behaviors of our staff."

The sheriff said his office has received no use-of-force complaints from the public during a 10-day period of protests in San Francisco.

He doesn't think the captain's actions were criminal.

When asked if he thought they were unprofessional, Miyamoto said that was something his office's internal investigation would have to determine.

"There's a context to everything. One segment of a video doesn't tell the whole story," Miyamoto said.

Allie Rasmus is a reporter for KTVU.  Email Allie at allie.rasmus@foxtv.com and follow her on Twitter@arasmusKTVU