LOOKING FOR JUSTICE

San Francisco DA Charges Police Officer With Homicide—for the First Time in City History

Chris Samayoa, a former San Francisco police officer, will be charged with homicide in the 2017 shooting of Keita O’Neil, an unarmed Black man.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin plans to bring forward homicide charges against a police officer for the first time in the city’s history. Chris Samayoa, a former San Francisco police officer, will be charged with homicide in the 2017 shooting of Keita O’Neil, an unarmed Black man in a carjacking case, Boudin announced Monday. Samayoa was on his fourth day as police officer when he fired at a running O’Neil from within his car, according to CBS San Francisco, hitting him once. Samayoa was fired shortly after. Boudin won the district attorney’s job in 2018 on a platform of police accountability. “In San Francisco there has been a long history of officer-involved shootings leading to no accountability whatsoever, further cementing the idea that police are above the law,” Boudin said Monday. “That stops today.”