San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr resigned Thursday, just hours after a black woman was fatally shot by a city officer.
Mayor Ed Lee had requested Suhr resign, despite standing by him in December after five officers fatally shot a young black man carrying a knife. Lee stood by Suhr once again in April after racist and homophobic text messages between city officers were made public.
Lee and Suhr then announced reforms aimed at reducing policy shootings. They also asked for the Department of Justice’s help to review their new policies and procedures.
Yet after Thursday’s fatal shooting, Lee said he had “arrived at a different conclusion to the question of how best to move forward” with the police department.
“The progress we have made has been meaningful, but it hasn’t been fast enough, not for me and not for Greg, and that’s why I have asked Chief Suhr for his resignation,” Lee said in short remarks from City Hall.
In the Thursday shooting, two officers came upon a black woman in a parked sedan they expected was stolen. Before they could question her, she drove off. The car crashed into a utility truck shortly nearby. It is alleged the woman was attempting to start the car back up and drive away. A witness said the officers went to the wreckage and opened the driver’s door before attempting to arrest her. A sergeant then fired one shot which killed the woman, who was unarmed.
The name of the 27-year-old woman has not been released.
“This is exactly the kind of thing with all the reforms we are trying to prevent,” Suhr said before his resignation.
Lee appointed Suhr chief in 2011. He was a 34-year veteran of the department before his resignation.
He also had a well documented history of missteps throughout his tenure, which included a demotion from deputy chief to captain in 2009 after failing to file a police report after a female friend told him she had been assaulted by her boyfriend.
Lee appointed 26-year veteran Deputy Chief Toney Chaplin as acting chief Thursday. Chaplin, who currently oversees the department’s professional standards and principled policing bureau, is black.
