Last Monday, a diary was published by jpmasser called 14 San Francisco cops vs. 1 One-Legged Man, Two Crutches and Multiple Cell Phone Cameras. It was yet another story of police brutality. At least this Black man made it out of the altercation alive and I managed to get a direct response from the police Captain of the district. Follow me below the twist for the ugly details.
The story was reported by Chaedria LaBouvier on Medium and came with a thirty minute video which can be viewed in jpmasser's diary above.
a Black man... was taken down by police in the mid-Market area of San Francisco... I began to see outlines of the incident unfold... a limping Black figure, wearing black, increasingly cornered by a wall of blue. By the time I had crossed 8th street, I was pulling out my phone as fast as I could.
Witnesses said there had been a call about somebody waving sticks around... By the time I arrived... several officers had arrived on the scene, and forced this man to the ground, which is where this footage begins. And they held him down, much of the time half-naked, for at least half an hour on one of San Francisco’s busiest streets...
The sticks? They were his crutches. You can hear people in the background around say so much.
The author of the diary provided email addresses and suggested we email about this latest outrage. As a disabled woman I couldn't even bear to bring myself to watch the video but I could email both the Chief of Police and the District Captain. I never even got a response from Chief Greg Surh but I was surprised to find a prompt response from District Captain Teresa Ewins in my inbox. This is what she had to say:
Thank you for all your emails and communicating your concerns regarding this incident.
Below are the facts that I wrote in regards to the incident on Aug 4 for those of you that did not receive my response. I wanted to provide an update due to some miss information in social media.
There were not 14 officers handling or taking the subject to the ground. There were 5 officers initially at the scene attempting to place him into custody. As presented in the video after the officer’s had him on the ground, officer’s responded to assist with the crowd that was gathering and being very aggressive toward the officers. This is heard in the video as well.
In regards to the crutches being mentioned both in the video and the emails I have received. The subject on the ground clearly states he had sticks and then mentions going to get crutches. The sticks were recovered and booked into evidence in which I personally saw prior to them being booked at Tenderloin Station.
I hope this clears up any misinformation that is being disseminated. As I stated yesterday I am looking into this matter myself as well as forwarding to the Office of Citizen Complaints for investigation. The OCC is an independent organization tasked with investigating police misconduct.
Here are the facts as we know them. On August 4, 2015 at approximately 12:10 pm, a concerned citizen called 911 regarding an individual that is mentally unstable waving a stick in UN Plaza. Officer’s arrived on scene and asked the subject to put the sticks down at which point he refused. While speaking to the subject he continuously began walking away while also raising the sticks above his head in a threatening manner.
The subject stepped into oncoming traffic on Market St. Officer’s continued to attempt to verbally instruct him to not step into oncoming traffic. The subject continued to refuse their directions and stated to the officers, “I don’t care if I get hit by a car.”
Per Department policy officers called for an Extended Range Impact Weapon (ERIW) which is a less lethal use of force due to the circumstances. The ERIW shoots a bean bag round.
Upon the arrival of the ERIW, the subject placed the sticks onto the ground. Due to his state of mind at the time, officer’s believed he was in an Altered Mental State and fit the criteria for a Mental Health Detention. They determined he was a danger to himself and others.
As officer’s attempted to place the subject into handcuffs he pulled his arms away. As he was resisting officer’s the subject fell forward. The officers still having their hands on him allowed his body weight to take him to the ground while attempting to control him.
The video shows that the officers used their body weight to subdue the subject by attempting to hold him still. The subject attempted to bite one officer on his leg and then with his legs strike another with both his legs.
Officers called for an ambulance due to his Altered Mental State. The subject then was taken to the hospital due to his Mental Health Detention.
We are attempting to gather further video in the area that shows the entire contact with this individual and the officers. I will look at this matter thoroughly and determine if there are any violations of Department policies and procedures and forward to OCC for an independent review.
Thank you for your inquiry and I hope this presents a larger picture of the events of that day.
Captain Teresa Ewins
Tenderloin Station
I was astonished by how much detail she provided so quickly but perhaps that was because no one was dead. Perhaps nobody died precisely because there
was such a large crowd gathered who "were aggressive to the officers," as she stated. Anyone who believes Black Lives Matter should be pulling out cameras the second they see a Black person starting to interact with police.
So what do you all think; is she being sincere or is she just doing CYA duty? I hate to put it so bluntly but the sad matter is that, by now, I just don't trust the police anymore.