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Public commenter urges SFFD to review ethics after retired captain's remarks about SWAT raid victim
Summary
An unidentified caller said a retired San Francisco firefighter has repeatedly disparaged a mentally ill man who was the subject of a county sheriff SWAT raid, warned the comments may taint a jury pool and said they will provide materials to the chief for review.
During public comment at the June 23 Fire Commission meeting an unidentified caller accused a retired San Francisco firefighter of repeatedly disparaging a mentally ill man who was the subject of a county sheriff's SWAT raid and said the remarks have mischaracterized facts surrounding the event.
"He has called in to a county board of supervisors meetings and he has, chosen, to disparage, a man who was a victim of the, county sheriff's SWAT raid," the caller said, recalling what they described as a forceful raid that used pepper spray and beanbag rounds. The commenter also said the raid resulted in the death of the man's dog and that evidence was lost when the vessel caught fire.
The commenter said the retired captain's public statements "are creating a bit of a problem because it's basically tainting the jury pool," and urged the Commission to check the department's ethics training for that generation of staff. The speaker said they would submit a letter and newspaper articles to Chief Janine Nicholson.
Commissioners did not enter into extended debate during public comment; the chair closed the public comment period and thanked the caller. The department did not provide a formal response on the record during the meeting; the commenter's materials and any departmental follow-up were not in the public record on June 23.
