In a first, San Francisco’s district attorney has filed homicide charges against a former police officer in a fatal shooting.
District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced Monday afternoon that he has filed manslaughter charges against former police officer Christopher Samayoa in the killing of Keta O’Neil, 42.
The shooting took place in the city’s Bayview District on December 1, 2017.
Police were chasing O’Neil, who was suspected of carjacking, when he ran past a police car where Samayoa was sitting in the passenger seat.
"Officer Samayoa fired his service weapon through the glass window of his door. The bullet struck and fatally injured Mr. O’Neil. Mr. O’Neil had no weapon. He was unarmed," said Boudin. "Body camera footage from other officers shows that not a single other officer pulled out their service weapon or pointed it at Mr. O’Neil."
Samayoa was a rookie officer who had recently graduated from the police academy when the shooting took place.
He was fired by the SFPD a few months later.
The manslaughter charges were filed Monday morning and Boudin said he hopes to send a message that, "No one is above the law," including police officers who inflict unlawful violence.
The case is a test for Boudin, a former public defendant who ran on a progressive platform of criminal justice reform and police accountability.
The San Francisco Police Officers Association, the city’s police union, has yet to issue a response. It is unclear if Samayoa has legal representation.