SFist Blotter

Special who's-watching-the-watchers edition!

The retrial of the Oakland Riders is well underway. You may remember that the Oakland Riders were the gang of Oakland cops who beat people up and planted drugs on them (and that the jury at the first trial acquitted eight officers and hung on four others after hearing about a year or so of testimony). The main whistleblower, who now works in Pleasanton, testified yesterday about being asked if he wanted to see "the dark side" of cop work, by a guy they called "The Foot Doctor" because he allegedly beat people on the soles of their feet. Dude, what do you think this is, Abu Ghraib?

In San Francisco, Heather Fong has announced that the SFPD committed no misconduct in five particular police-on-civilian shootings, including the most notorious, the schizophrenic man who was shot and killed at the Metreon in 2001 (cops say he was waving a knife; his family says the knife was on a chain). Fong also cleared the cops in the 2002 killing of a man who lunged at cops with two butcher knives at the Bagdad Cafe. There are still 24 cases in the backlog to go.

And finally, in San Jose, a city councilmember was found to have violated ethical guidelines by asking for, and accepting, free wine ($180 of Australian shiraz and $1600 of Opus One) and baseball tickets from people seeking to do business with San Jose. He also accepted free golf games and tickets to entertainment and community events, but the panel was unable to conclude whether that counted as actually unethical or not. A criminal investigation is also pending.