A mother of five was roughed up in a recent jaywalking arrest, and now there’s video of the incident, so she says she's going to sue SFPD for leaving her with a concussion and a separated shoulder.
It’s been in the news this week that a jaywalking arrest in the Inner Richmond last month turned violent, and now the woman who was arrested has lawyered up and is promising a lawsuit. According to KRON4, the incident happened July 29 at Geary Boulevard near Second Avenue, and the woman says SFPD’s use of force left her with a concussion, separated shoulder, and torn ligaments.
KTVU has pretty extensive video of the incident, and at first, the woman Christiana Porter is seen walking across Second Avenue with a pair of headphones on and not noticing that a police SUV has pulled over. (It’s not clear from the video if she had the right-of-way). So she continues walking down Geary Boulevard, and an officer pursues her driving the wrong way, then gets out of the SUV and pushes Porter up against a wall.
She begins shouting “I’m not resisting,” though the officer insists she is. Three more squad cars show up with their sirens blaring, and additional officers hold her to the wall. They cuff her up and drag her into one of the squad cars.
“Everything just happened so fast,” Porter, a single mother of five, told KRON4. “I was just terrified because the moment he charged at me out of his car and just seeing that look of just anger and I’m going to hurt you type look on his face, I immediately knew he didn’t have good intentions.”
“I still have a separated right shoulder, torn ACM ligaments that attach to my clavicle, I suffered a concussion,” she added. “I still am experiencing the aftereffects of a concussion as well as in my hips and in my back.”
The officer who originally pulled over for Porter was SFPD Officer Josh McFall. KTVU has additional video of passersby confronting McFall, who told them that Porter had refused to stop or produce ID, and wouldn’t keep her hands out of her pockets. “I didn’t want it to go this way, but when people put me in that position, I don’t have a choice,” he said.
Porter has retained an attorney, who’s filed a legal claim, which is likely a precursor to a civil lawsuit. “This was an unreasonable detention by way of the use of force,” that attorney Lateef Gray told the Chronicle. “SFPD has a policy that should prevent officers from using jaywalking as a pretext to conduct a deeper investigation, yet here we see that policy blatantly disregarded.”
The attorney is also asking DA Brooke Jenkins’s office to not file jaywalking charges against Porter. But according to KRON4, Porter does have a court date of August 23 for jaywalking and resisting arrest charges.
Related: Etiquette Week: How To Walk On The Sidewalk Like A Reasonable Human Being
Image: A San Francisco Police Department vehicle is visible patrolling during a shelter in place order amid an outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus in San Francisco, California, March 23, 2020. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
