Unarmed, Innocent, 17 Yr. Old Filipina Gunned Down by Police 5 Years Ago
The San Francisco Police Commission decided today to go
into closed session next week for discussions with city attorneys about
a 1998 officer-involved shooting in which a teenage girl died. Sheila
Detoy, 17, died on May 13 that year after police near Lake Merced fired
into a car in which she was a front-seat passenger. The Police
Commission, which would decide any disciplinary cases against the
officers involved, is awaiting a legal opinion from the City Attorney's
office regarding which documents commissioners should be allowed to
view. "There's somehow this fear that we'll be tained and that we have
to be protected," said Commissioner Peter Keane, who has argued for
maximum disclosure even though some expressed concern that viewing
Police Department reports could skew commissioners' objectivity. Others
made plain their frustration over the length of time that has passed
since the shooting and the lack of disciplinary hearings in the case.
"Six years is just insane," said Commissioner Joe Marshall. Police
officials at today's commission meeting described plans in the works to
accelerate officer-involved shooting investigations, which often take
years. [more]
On May 13, 1998 undercover San Francisco police officers and Federal
Bureau of Investigation agents were staking out the apartment of
Raymondo Cox, 21 hoping to arrest him on drug charges. When Cox got
into a car with Sheila Detoyand driver Michael Negron, police attempted
to block one end of the driveway with a van. When Negron threw the car
into reverse to try to go out the other way, police officers say they
feared that the car would hit them, so they opened fire, killing Detoy.
Police can shoot at a car coming at them but Officer Breslin fired from
the side of the car when he was out of harm's way
PoliceWatch Stops Commission From Letting Rogue Cops Off the Hook [more]
