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It took nearly 17 months for the San Francisco Police Department to absolve the officers who fatally shot Alejandro Nieto after mistaking his Taser for a handgun.

The SFPD’s decision to close its investigation into the shooting came after the city’s District Attorney—and former police chief—George Gascón sent a letter to current SFPD Chief Greg Suhr on Feb. 12. The letter detailed the DA’s investigation and concluded that the four officers who engaged with Nieto acted “lawfully in self-defense and in defense of others.”

The letter highlighted Nieto’s history of mental illness, along with toxicology tests finding that he wasn’t on his prescribed medications at the time of the shooting. It also cited that Nieto had two prior contacts with law enforcement, both stemming from 2011 and both resulting in him being placed on 72-hour mental health holds.

But Nieto’s supporters, more specifically the Justice for Alex Nieto coalition and the law firm representing the Nieto family, aren’t accepting the police and DA’s verdict.

“The police investigation doesn’t have any bearing upon civil liability for what took place,” said Adante Pointer, an associate attorney in the office of civil rights lawyer John Burris, who is representing the Nieto family. “The conclusions they reached were no surprise, because the police rally to protect their own. There’s a distinct history of the police being not willing to accept responsibility for their acts, especially in these shooting deaths.”

According to the DA’s letter, Nieto drew and discharged his Taser at the officers, and the officers, believing the Taser to be a handgun, fired 59 shots, striking him at least 10 times.

But both Pointer and Nieto Family spokesman Benjamin Bac Sierra confirmed a third-party witness who contradicts the SFPD version of the shooting.

“I don’t have any confidence that the police really followed up and or considered that witness’ statement in their final analysis,” Pointer said. “The officers have a vested interest in protecting their A-S-S, whereas a third party interest, who has no theoretical dog in the fight, he’s saying, ‘Hey, it didn’t happen the way the police said it happened.’”

That witness, according to Bac Sierra, was in the area that evening walking a dog and said Nieto never did anything menacing.

“The officers, this witness says, did not have any type of communication with Alex. They pulled out their weapons, and they began shooting. Why was this never said in any district attorney’s report?” Bac Sierra said.

According to the DA’s letter, witnesses saw a man at around 7 p.m. March 21, 2014, walking in Bernal Hill Park, wearing a bright red jacket and what some thought to be a holstered handgun.

One witness, who had an altercation with Nieto after his unleashed dog kept following Nieto, said he saw Nieto unholster his M26C Taser, and recognized it wasn’t a firearm.

The police, however, were unable to make that distinction.

According to the letter, officer Richard Schiff and Sgt. Jason Sawyer, both in full uniform, responded to the 911 dispatch calls of a Latino man with a holstered handgun on Bernal Hill. Sawyer, who was in the passenger seat of the patrol car, said he spotted a bulge on Nieto’s right side, and instructed Schiff to stop the patrol car about 25 to 30 yards in front of Nieto.

Both officers shouted “Let me see your hands!” several times before Nieto allegedly drew his Taser.

“What they’re expecting us to accept is… they allowed him to go from his hands raised, to his holster, take the Taser out of his holster, and then point it at the officers, before they began firing,” Bac Sierra said. “That is a small detail, but it does add to the lack of credibility… of what trained police officers would allow someone to do in that situation.”

According to the letter, both officers fired at Nieto, who dropped to the ground with his head up and his arms outstretched, the

Taser still aimed at the officers. Officers Nathan Chew and Roger Morse arrived shortly before the first shots were fired, and joined in the shooting. The four officers continued to do so until Nieto’s head and Taser went down.

“The more we look at the case and the facts of the case… the more we see that what the city and what the police department are saying just does not add up,” Pointer said. “And we are looking forward to the day when we can actually put forth our own facts and theories, which will happen at trial or shortly before it.”

The case is currently in discovery, and will stay that way for about 60 days. Once that period ends, Pointer said his legal team will be more at liberty to discuss their investigation’s findings.