SAN FRANCISCO—On Wednesday, July 12, San Francisco Police Commissioner’s Jesus Yáñez and Kevin Benedicto declared – at the SF Police Commissioner hearing – that an independent investigation by the Department of Police Accountability will be conducted into the San Francisco Police Department’s response to the Dolores Hill Bomb skateboarding event on Saturday, July 8. Yáñez and Benedicto declared that any officer that did not “adhere to policy” will be held accountable for their actions.
“The outcome of this event is absolutely unacceptable and to me is a failure of everything we represent as a city and as a department,” Benedicto said.
The event – which took place at Dolores Park on Dolores Street – resulted in the arrests and citations of 32 adults and 81 juveniles.
Many parents, activists, juveniles involved and community members of the Mission District were present at the SF Police Commission Hearing, to express outrage about the SFPD’s response that led to “unlawful arrests” and possible civil rights violations of their children.
Detained individuals reportedly sat on the ground for up to six hours waiting to be transferred by bus to the Mission District Station. Their phones were reportedly taken away, they were unable to take bathroom breaks and they were not given food. Detainees reportedly had to pee in buckets and some peed themselves.
“My son had dinner with me at 8:20 p.m…he was not at the event,” Lisa, a mother of a teenage son who was arrested on Saturday, told the Commission panel. “He asked if he could go to his friend’s house with his two friends who also ate dinner with us, and 15 to 18 minutes later he was detained,” she continued. “They grabbed him, detained him, zip tied him and he sat on the ground until 1 a.m. They took his phone, he wasn’t allowed to call me, he was forced to pee in a bucket and he never made it to his friends house. At 3:30 a.m., SFPD called to tell me that I could come pick up my son.”
“As we saw on Saturday night, from numerous reports, [kettling practices] encourage indiscriminate, unlawful arrests,” one Mission District resident told the Police Commission panel. “[It also] humiliates and violates internal policy set by the SFPD…[the juveniles detained had] no bathroom breaks, no snacks, no calls, no nothing,” he continued.
Community members and activists, including Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, claim that SFPD’s presence – dressed in riot gear and armed with bean bag guns and batons – failed to properly deescalate the situation and did not adhere to policy during the event involving mostly teenagers.
According to an SFPD news release, SFPD Mission District Police Station planned with other City Agencies for the “unpermitted and non-sanctioned event,” at Dolores Park, which draws large crowds, and in the past, resulted in property damage, injuries and one death.
By 6:15 p.m., the event reportedly turned violent and chaotic. SFPD officers observed fireworks being deployed and three separate Muni light-rail vehicles vandalized. An SFPD sergeant was assaulted and suffered a laceration to his face and gunshots were fired within the crowds near 18th and Church Streets. Lit fireworks and bottles were being thrown at officers as well.
By 7:15 p.m., SFPD officers declared the event an “unlawful assembly.” By 8:35 p.m., officers kettled a group of 200 individuals and conducted a mass arrest at Dolores and Guerrero Streets. During the arrests officers located and seized several firearms left at the scene as well as unused fireworks and narcotics paraphernalia. No injuries were reported.
Vandalism of Muni buses and light-rail trains will reportedly cost the city $70,000 and put multiple vehicles out of service for five days, the city’s transit agency spokesperson Stephen Chun said to the San Francisco Standard.
“We need coordination not coercion,” Benedicto concluded. “We need outreach, we need the whole of community because this is not an event that can be made safer solely by the deployment of law enforcement.”
Another Police Commissioner hearing – allocating more discussion time to this incident – will be taking place next Wednesday, July 19.
