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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.<\/p>\n
The SFPD\u2019s decision to close its investigation into the shooting came after the city\u2019s District Attorney\u2014and former police chief\u2014George Gasc\u00f3n sent a letter to current SFPD Chief Greg Suhr on Feb. 12. The letter detailed the DA\u2019s investigation and concluded that the four officers who engaged with Nieto acted \u201clawfully in self-defense and in defense of others.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter highlighted Nieto\u2019s history of mental illness, along with toxicology tests finding that he wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
But Nieto\u2019s supporters, more specifically the Justice for Alex Nieto coalition and the law firm representing the Nieto family, aren\u2019t accepting the police and DA\u2019s verdict.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police investigation doesn\u2019t have any bearing upon civil liability for what took place,\u201d said Adante Pointer, an associate attorney in the office of civil rights lawyer John Burris, who is representing the Nieto family. \u201cThe conclusions they reached were no surprise, because the police rally to protect their own. There\u2019s a distinct history of the police being not willing to accept responsibility for their acts, especially in these shooting deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the DA\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
But both Pointer and Nieto Family spokesman Benjamin Bac Sierra confirmed a third-party witness who contradicts the SFPD version of the shooting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have any confidence that the police really followed up and or considered that witness\u2019 statement in their final analysis,\u201d Pointer said. \u201cThe 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\u2019s saying, \u2018Hey, it didn\u2019t happen the way the police said it happened.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That witness, according to Bac Sierra, was in the area that evening walking a dog and said Nieto never did anything menacing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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\u2019s report?\u201d Bac Sierra said.<\/p>\n
According to the DA\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t a firearm.<\/p>\n
The police, however, were unable to make that distinction.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s right side, and instructed Schiff to stop the patrol car about 25 to 30 yards in front of Nieto.<\/p>\n
Both officers shouted \u201cLet me see your hands!\u201d several times before Nieto allegedly drew his Taser.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat they\u2019re expecting us to accept is\u2026 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,\u201d Bac Sierra said. \u201cThat is a small detail, but it does add to the lack of credibility\u2026 of what trained police officers would allow someone to do in that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the letter, both officers fired at Nieto, who dropped to the ground with his head up and his arms outstretched, the<\/p>\n
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\u2019s head and Taser went down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d Pointer said. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The SFPD\u2019s decision to close its investigation into the shooting came after the city\u2019s District Attorney\u2014and former police chief\u2014George Gasc\u00f3n sent a letter to current SFPD Chief Greg Suhr on Feb. 12. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":27818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3929],"tags":[3086,848,1650,6159,346],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-27798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-alex-nieto","tag-george-gascon","tag-greg-suhr","tag-justice-for-alex-nieto","tag-sfpd","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n