Name: DA Boudin drops charges against black teen in SFPD knee video
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DA Boudin drops charges against black teen in SFPD knee video

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San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin dropped charges against Kajon Busby, the black teenager seen being in a that’s drawn comparisons to the George Floyd case.Busby, 19, was charged with misdemeanor crimes of criminal threats and resisting arrest, stemming from a Jan. 25 incident in which Busby was taken to the ground and handcuffed by several officers.But a bystander video posted on social media last week provides a troubling vantage point not seen in body camera footage. For several seconds, a female officer appears to be pressing her knee to Busby’s neck while he’s on his stomach, in a manner similar to the one used by the former Minneapolis officer accused of killing Floyd on Memorial Day, and ignitedWhile the charges were filed when Boudin was in office, the top prosecutor said he was not personally involved in the charging decision. After he heard of the case this weekend, Boudin said he took a closer look at the police files, viewed the video and asked his team to reach out to the main victims.“After reviewing all that, I decided the case should be dismissed in full,” Boudin said in a Tuesday interview. “I went into court Monday morning and did that myself.”The case prompted Boudin to implement a new policy that requires prosecutors to review all police body camera and independent video footage prior to filing charges for resisting arrest.In the case of Busby, Boudin said, bystander video footage emerged months after the fact and “told a different story.”These circumstances, he said, “require us to dismiss in the interest of justice.”Busby’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Alejandra Ramirez, said the dismissal was the right thing to do.“This case was really just a misunderstanding between neighbors over a family dog; there was nothing criminal in nature,” Ramirez said.Ramirez described her client as a “responsible, sensitive and goofy” teenager, and said she sees her younger brothers in him.The first time the two spoke, Ramirez said, Busby didn’t mention the manner in which he was arrested.“I came to find out he simply did not think ‘it mattered,’” Ramirez said. “This infuriated me because a 19-year-old African American kid, raised in Hunters Point in San Francisco, should not have to believe that excessive force used by police officers is normal.”Tony Montoya, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association and a frequent Boudin critic, said the case’s dismissal was “yet another example of Boudin’s criminals-first agenda that will continue to put San Franciscans at risk.”More for youUpdated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.“What’s news is not when former Public Defender Chesa Boudin drops charges against an accused suspect, that’s a daily occurrence,” Montoya said in a statement. “The news would be when he actually prosecutes dangerous individuals.”The incident has also prompted San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju to call out San Francisco police’s use-of-force policies. Raju said policymakers should explicitly forbid officers from applying pressure on a person’s neck or head while they’re on the ground, and violations of this rule should result in termination.San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott ordered an administrative review of the incident and invited the San Francisco Department of Police Accountability to independently investigate the arrest, according to a police statement. Officials said the department’s training division is also reviewing prone handcuffing techniques to determine whether policy changes are warranted.Police additionally released body camera footage of the arrest, and a separate clip that synced with the bystander video. The videos show police restraining a young man and taking him into custody after they said he made criminal threats against his neighbor and resisted a peace officer.The Police Department’s lists the knee as one of many “personal body weapons” that may be used to gain control of a subject. It also specifically prohibits the use of choke holds and carotid restraints — neck restraints that apply pressure to a subject’s windpipe or carotid arteries, respectively.The policy does not specifically address the move in question, in which an officer applies pressure to the back of a prone subject’s neck, potentially pressing the windpipe to the ground.Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Twitter:Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin dropped charges against Kajon Busby, the black teenager seen being in a that’s drawn comparisons to the George Floyd case.Busby, 19, was charged with misdemeanor crimes of criminal threats and resisting arrest, stemming from a Jan. 25 incident in which Busby was taken to the ground and handcuffed by several officers.But a bystander video posted on social media last week provides a troubling vantage point not seen in body camera footage. For several seconds, a female officer appears to be pressing her knee to Busby’s neck while he’s on his...

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Megan Cassidy

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DA Boudin drops charges against black teen in SFPD knee video

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