Teh One Who Knocks
08-01-2012, 10:46 AM
Henry K. Lee - San Francisco Chronicle
The mother of a Washington state parolee who accidentally shot himself to death during a gunfight with San Francisco police last year has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city.
Kenneth Wade Harding, 19, fatally wounded himself while running away from officers who stopped him on Third Street in the Bayview neighborhood for failing to pay a Muni fare, police said. But in a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Harding's mother Denika Chatman said police have some responsibility for her son's death and that officers failed to give him immediate medical care. Instead, they "left him writhing in pain with blood gushing out of his neck," the suit said.
"He was literally allowed to drown in his own blood," said Chatman's attorney John Burris. "He was killed needlessly."
Harding was trying to fire at the officers with a pistol and apparently shot himself in the neck on July 16, 2011, police investigators said. Officers Matthew Lopez and Richard Hastings also fired on Harding, striking him in the leg, authorities said.
Police said Harding's pistol was stolen from the scene - a theft that was captured on amateur cell phone video - and later recovered.
The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, names the City of San Francisco, Police Chief Greg Suhr, Lopez and Hastings as defendants. The city has not responded to the suit in court.
Harding was a suspect in Seattle in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old woman three days earlier. He was on parole for trying to pimp a 14-year-old girl in that city.
The bullet that entered Harding's neck and lodged in his head was from a .380-caliber handgun, a weapon that San Francisco officers do not carry, police said. A .380-caliber bullet was found in Harding's pocket, and he had gunshot residue on his hand, police said.
Some Bayview residents reacted angrily to Harding's shooting, calling it an example of police brutality. Earlier this month, protesters marking the first anniversary of his slaying blocked two Muni lines for less than an hour.
The mother of a Washington state parolee who accidentally shot himself to death during a gunfight with San Francisco police last year has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city.
Kenneth Wade Harding, 19, fatally wounded himself while running away from officers who stopped him on Third Street in the Bayview neighborhood for failing to pay a Muni fare, police said. But in a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Harding's mother Denika Chatman said police have some responsibility for her son's death and that officers failed to give him immediate medical care. Instead, they "left him writhing in pain with blood gushing out of his neck," the suit said.
"He was literally allowed to drown in his own blood," said Chatman's attorney John Burris. "He was killed needlessly."
Harding was trying to fire at the officers with a pistol and apparently shot himself in the neck on July 16, 2011, police investigators said. Officers Matthew Lopez and Richard Hastings also fired on Harding, striking him in the leg, authorities said.
Police said Harding's pistol was stolen from the scene - a theft that was captured on amateur cell phone video - and later recovered.
The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, names the City of San Francisco, Police Chief Greg Suhr, Lopez and Hastings as defendants. The city has not responded to the suit in court.
Harding was a suspect in Seattle in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old woman three days earlier. He was on parole for trying to pimp a 14-year-old girl in that city.
The bullet that entered Harding's neck and lodged in his head was from a .380-caliber handgun, a weapon that San Francisco officers do not carry, police said. A .380-caliber bullet was found in Harding's pocket, and he had gunshot residue on his hand, police said.
Some Bayview residents reacted angrily to Harding's shooting, calling it an example of police brutality. Earlier this month, protesters marking the first anniversary of his slaying blocked two Muni lines for less than an hour.