SF group calls for officers to be charged with murder, pressures D.A. with protests
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - More than a dozen protesters, including the parents of a man killed by San Francisco police in 2014, briefly blocked the entrance to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office this afternoon, demanding that officers involved in fatal shootings be charged with murder.
The group entered the Hall of Justice with the hopes of speaking with District Attorney George Gascon to demand that he file murder charges against various officers who have pulled triggers in multiple recent fatal police shootings.
The group included former Black Panther member Elaine Brown, Frisco Five hunger striker Maria Cristina Gutierrez and Elvira and Refugio Nieto, parents of Alex Nieto. Alex Nieto died on March 21, 2014, after four officers fired as many as 59 shots at him after responding to a report of a possibly armed man at Bernal Heights Park.
Upon hearing that Gascon was not in the office, the group threatened to return to the office every week until he would agree to meet with them.
"When can we meet with Gascon? He has no time for the community.
Every time we've come to see him he never, never, never has the dignity to meet with us -- he's hiding from his responsibilities," Elvira Nieto said.
Group members then proceeded to tape fliers throughout the office entrance. The fliers called for justice for several victims of recent police shootings in the city, including Mario Woods, who was killed by police in Dec. 2015 and Luis Gongora Pat, who was also fatally shot by police in April.
Woods and Gongora were both allegedly armed with knives at the time they were shot, but many community members have argued police should have handled the incidents without resorting to gunfire.
Protesters also called for justice for Jessica Williams, a 29-year-old unarmed woman who was fatally shot by police in May, after officers had tried to pull her over on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle on Elmira Street.
"Our office is working on the investigations, and when there is an update in the investigation, we will put that out there," District Attorney spokesman Alex Bastian said to the group "But at this point, there aren't any updates."
Alex Nieto's family had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the officers, but following a trial, an eight-person jury ruled on March 10 that the officers did not use unconstitutional excessive force.