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Residents urge action after Thanksgiving Bayview raid; commission asks chief for closed-session briefing
Summary
Residents, community groups and a woman who said officers pulled her from the shower on Thanksgiving urged the San Francisco Police Commission to hold officers accountable; Commissioners asked the chief to brief them in closed session and the OCC said it has opened a priority investigation.
Dozens of residents and community groups pressed the San Francisco Police Commission on Dec. 5 over an incident they said occurred on Thanksgiving in Bayview Hunters Point, in which officers entered a home and removed a woman while she was showering.
"I am the victim," Joanne Abernathy told the commission, describing officers entering her house on Thanksgiving, not showing a warrant and using force against family members. Community groups including Power and the W. Hayward Burns Institute called for the immediate removal of implicated officers, public disclosure of badge numbers and an anonymous complaint line. Francisco DeCosta and others said the episode fits a pattern of aggressive enforcement under the gang injunction in Bayview.
The commission president, Teresa Sparks, said the body could not comment on specific ongoing personnel matters in open session but asked the chief of police and the director of the Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC) to report to commissioners in closed session next week with a factual overview of the incident and an explanation of how the gang task force enforces gang injunctions. Joyce Hicks, the OCC's new director, told the commission her office has given the complaint the highest priority and has already begun interviews.
Commissioners echoed community concerns about training, oversight and the need for transparent complaint intake. Several urged the department to provide more information publicly about community policing efforts and the foot-patrol evaluation now underway. President Sparks said the commission will pursue additional conversations with the chief and OCC to ensure the matter is handled within the limits of law and the OCC's investigative process.
The commission did not take formal disciplinary action in open session; Sparks said any further action would await the closed-session briefing and OCC's investigation.
Next steps: the chief and the OCC director will brief commissioners in a closed session meeting next week; the commission also encouraged OCC to confirm proper intake procedures and follow-up with complainants.
