San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin punctuated his first year in office by filing a series of criminal charges against current and former city police officers.
That should come as little surprise. Boudin, a former high-profile deputy public defender, campaigned as part of a progressive prosecutor movement and promised to charge cops who used excessive force.
The series of recent charges filed has nevertheless drawn criticism from San Francisco's police officers’ union and raised some concerns with the city's police chief.
In the past month alone, Boudin has filed charges against three current or former police officers. He also, however, declined to charge three other officers connected to two fatal shootings.
“We have an obligation to seek justice, to do justice and to enforce the laws equally,” Boudin said in an interview Wednesday. “And that's exactly what we're doing in these cases.”
On Monday, Boudin filed felony assault and battery charges against Officer Terrance Stangel for allegedly beating a domestic violence suspect with a baton in October 2019 near Fisherman’s Wharf.
Boudin said body camera footage from the incident shows that the officers, who responded to a 911 call, “immediately escalated the situation, used force that resulted in multiple broken bones.” He also noted that officers did not actually see the suspect — later identified as Dacari Spiers — assaulting his girlfriend, as had been reported, and never arrested him.
Spiers required surgery on his leg and wrist as a result of his injuries.
The day after Boudin’s office filed charges, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott released his own statement and provided recordings of the original 911 call and body camera footage. In a carefully worded statement, Scott gave his “full support” to the SFPD, while stopping short of either defending Stangel’s actions or directly criticizing the criminal charges. He stressed the need to maintain balance between holding officers accountable for violating the law and holding individuals accountable for attacking or obstructing officers.
“Unfortunately, the job of protecting public safety and preserving order becomes exceedingly difficult when that balance is absent,” he said in the statement.
It's unclear in the body camera footage what transpired between Spiers and his girlfriend as the officers approached.
In a tweet, the San Francisco Police Officers Association thanked the chief for his support and condemned the recent charges.
