Conflicting accounts in killing by S.F. cops
EARLIER RUN-IN: Man chased by Oakland police Sunday
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, May 7, 2004
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URL: sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/07/MNG1A6HEGM1.DTL
The 29-year-old man shot to death by San Francisco police after a car chase had a history of run-ins with law enforcement and led Oakland police on a pursuit last weekend during which he goaded officers to kill him, authorities said Thursday.
Cammerin Boyd of Oakland fired on San Francisco police at least twice Wednesday night as they chased him through the Western Addition, just west of City Hall, authorities said. Five officers fired a total of about nine shots at Boyd after he pulled over in an alley and reached under the seat of his SUV for what police thought was the gun he had been shooting, investigators said. The handgun turned out to be in the driver's door pocket.
Several people in the neighborhood who said they had seen the shooting disputed the police version of what happened. They said Boyd had come out of the SUV cooperating with police and had been taking his pants off to remove his prosthetic legs when officers opened fire.
"He said, 'I surrender. I surrender. I don't have nothing. Don't kill me. ' Those were his last words," said Satia Norris, who said she had watched from her window at the Plaza East public housing apartments. "He got shot with his hands in the air."
Police were adamant that wasn't how it happened. They said officers reported hearing Boyd yell, "Help me kill these cops!'' after he stopped his rented Chevrolet Blazer on Larch Way outside Plaza East. They said that under the circumstances, the shooting was justified because Boyd had reached under the seat and turned suddenly toward officers.
"He was totally ignoring (officers') commands,'' said Lt. John Hennessey of the homicide detail. "I just don't see how it could be any cleaner than this one.''
The shooting happened less than a month after the April 10 slaying of Officer Isaac Espinoza in the Bayview, and some residents concluded that police nervousness over that shooting had led them to overreact Wednesday. Police Chief Heather Fong countered that she hadn't seen "any jitteriness" among her officers.
Mayor Gavin Newsom was in touch with police officials and community leaders in the Western Addition on Thursday but reserved public comment other than to say thorough investigations would be conducted.
Boyd lived with his mother, a lawyer who has represented him in civil cases, in a well-to-do neighborhood of the East Oakland hills near the zoo.
He was first arrested in 1993, when he was 18, and that year lost both legs below the knee when he crashed a car on Interstate 880 while fleeing from the California Highway Patrol. He was convicted of possessing a dagger in 1994 and of robbery and grand theft in 1997 and was in and out of prison for various other offenses between 1996 and 2001.
His mother, Marylon Boyd, filed at least three lawsuits on her son's behalf in federal court stemming from his treatment by law enforcement over the years.
"My son had his problems, but he never would have fired a gun at police, '' she said. "I know all about his police record. But they are trying to make him out as some kind of monster when he's not. ... They are just trying to justify an unjustifiable, unnecessary killing.''
Cammerin Boyd's most recent run-in with police happened Sunday evening, when he fled in his mother's Mercedes-Benz from an attempted traffic stop on International Boulevard at speeds reaching 80 mph, Oakland police said.
When officers finally pinned the car at 54th Avenue, Boyd threw it into reverse, according to the police report. Officers fired a bean-bag round at the windshield, and Boyd gave up.
Police said Boyd had emerged from the car shirtless, foaming at the mouth and yelling, "Kill me, kill me, you filthy white racists! I am a child of Yahweh! You cannot kill me!"
Once in custody, he made "bizarre statements about Catholicism and Buddhism'' and said a San Francisco police officer was "after him with a gun, '' the police report says.
Boyd was released on bail and charged with several counts, including felony evading arrest, driving without a license and reckless driving. A judge in Oakland dismissed the case Thursday after his death.
Boyd was already out on $250,000 bail stemming from an April 2003 robbery in San Francisco in which he was accused of holding up a man at gunpoint at Sutter and Jones streets. Boyd allegedly pointed a gun at a woman's head during the incident and said, "You wanna get shot?''
That case also was pending when Boyd was killed.
Boyd and his mother had lodged several complaints of their own against law enforcement. Last year, Marylon Boyd filed a claim on her son's behalf with the San Francisco city attorney, accusing police of having arrested him for the robbery because he was black.
The claim alleged that Boyd was "constantly stopped, detained and searched while driving without probable cause" by unidentified police officers. The city rejected the claim.
Also last year, Boyd and his mother filed a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing Oakland police of using excessive force and being insensitive to his disability for strip-searching him by the side of the road, in full view of passers-by, during a traffic stop in 2002.
In a lawsuit filed in March 2002, Boyd and his mother accused Alameda County jail staff members, state prison officials, doctors and others of failing to properly treat a "life-threatening infection to his left stump" while he was being held at Santa Rita Jail.
The events that led to Boyd's death began just after 8 p.m. Wednesday when a woman flagged down police at the corner of Eddy and Laguna streets and said a man with a gun in a black SUV had tried to kidnap her. She ran, and the man drove off, she told police.
Officers spotted Boyd's Chevy Blazer nearby and followed him. Police said Boyd fired at least twice and led police on a chase through several blocks of the Western Addition. Finally, he pulled into Larch Way, a block-long alley off Buchanan Street that serves as a parking lot for Plaza East.
Police said Boyd emerged from the SUV with his hands up, then lowered his arms and sat on the running board. He ignored officers' orders to move away from the car, police said.
Then, said police, Boyd reached under a seat. He again ignored officers' orders to move away and spun around suddenly, at which point police opened fire, investigators said.
Officers said they then found a gun, in the pocket of the driver's door, its butt visible. Tests are being conducted to see whether it had been fired.
Several people interviewed in the area Wednesday night and Thursday said they had seen what happened and disputed the police account.
They said they had seen Boyd's black SUV cruise slowly onto Larch Way as at least 30 children and teenagers played outside. "He was yelling out the car, 'Homey, they're going to kill me!' " said Otis Harris, 53, who lives on Larch.
The Blazer stopped about a half-block from Jefferson Square Park, and "all these police officers came out from everywhere," said Dennis Williams, 25, who cares for his disabled grandmother in Plaza East.
Police asked Boyd several times to leave his car, "then fired multiple shots at the car," said Brandon Johnson, 20, who watched from his Larch Way apartment.
Boyd got out of the car, pulled off his shirt and began to drop his pants "to show he didn't have a weapon," said Angela Washington, another Plaza East resident. "Then the police told him to get on his knees. And he said, 'I ain't got no legs.' "
When officers opened fire, one bullet struck a window in Williams' unit.
Johnson said he had contacted Boyd's mother and Newsom's office about what he saw.
"I'm willing to sign an affidavit right now," said Johnson, who recently enlisted in the Army and departs for service May 25. "They're always saying that nobody is willing to come forward and be a witness to a shooting. Well, here I am. I'm willing."
In keeping with a policy instituted under former Police Chief Alex Fagan, police said they would not release the names of the five officers who fired at Boyd.
The police homicide and management control units and district attorney's offices are investigating, which is standard practice after any fatal shooting involving officers. The independent police monitoring agency, the Office of Citizen Complaints, also has entered the case.
Chronicle staff writers Henry K. Lee, Jim Herron Zamora and Rachel Gordon contributed to this report.
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ
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EARLIER RUN-IN: Man chased by Oakland police Sunday
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, May 7, 2004
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ
URL: sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/07/MNG1A6HEGM1.DTL
The 29-year-old man shot to death by San Francisco police after a car chase had a history of run-ins with law enforcement and led Oakland police on a pursuit last weekend during which he goaded officers to kill him, authorities said Thursday.
Cammerin Boyd of Oakland fired on San Francisco police at least twice Wednesday night as they chased him through the Western Addition, just west of City Hall, authorities said. Five officers fired a total of about nine shots at Boyd after he pulled over in an alley and reached under the seat of his SUV for what police thought was the gun he had been shooting, investigators said. The handgun turned out to be in the driver's door pocket.
Several people in the neighborhood who said they had seen the shooting disputed the police version of what happened. They said Boyd had come out of the SUV cooperating with police and had been taking his pants off to remove his prosthetic legs when officers opened fire.
"He said, 'I surrender. I surrender. I don't have nothing. Don't kill me. ' Those were his last words," said Satia Norris, who said she had watched from her window at the Plaza East public housing apartments. "He got shot with his hands in the air."
Police were adamant that wasn't how it happened. They said officers reported hearing Boyd yell, "Help me kill these cops!'' after he stopped his rented Chevrolet Blazer on Larch Way outside Plaza East. They said that under the circumstances, the shooting was justified because Boyd had reached under the seat and turned suddenly toward officers.
"He was totally ignoring (officers') commands,'' said Lt. John Hennessey of the homicide detail. "I just don't see how it could be any cleaner than this one.''
The shooting happened less than a month after the April 10 slaying of Officer Isaac Espinoza in the Bayview, and some residents concluded that police nervousness over that shooting had led them to overreact Wednesday. Police Chief Heather Fong countered that she hadn't seen "any jitteriness" among her officers.
Mayor Gavin Newsom was in touch with police officials and community leaders in the Western Addition on Thursday but reserved public comment other than to say thorough investigations would be conducted.
Boyd lived with his mother, a lawyer who has represented him in civil cases, in a well-to-do neighborhood of the East Oakland hills near the zoo.
He was first arrested in 1993, when he was 18, and that year lost both legs below the knee when he crashed a car on Interstate 880 while fleeing from the California Highway Patrol. He was convicted of possessing a dagger in 1994 and of robbery and grand theft in 1997 and was in and out of prison for various other offenses between 1996 and 2001.
His mother, Marylon Boyd, filed at least three lawsuits on her son's behalf in federal court stemming from his treatment by law enforcement over the years.
"My son had his problems, but he never would have fired a gun at police, '' she said. "I know all about his police record. But they are trying to make him out as some kind of monster when he's not. ... They are just trying to justify an unjustifiable, unnecessary killing.''
Cammerin Boyd's most recent run-in with police happened Sunday evening, when he fled in his mother's Mercedes-Benz from an attempted traffic stop on International Boulevard at speeds reaching 80 mph, Oakland police said.
When officers finally pinned the car at 54th Avenue, Boyd threw it into reverse, according to the police report. Officers fired a bean-bag round at the windshield, and Boyd gave up.
Police said Boyd had emerged from the car shirtless, foaming at the mouth and yelling, "Kill me, kill me, you filthy white racists! I am a child of Yahweh! You cannot kill me!"
Once in custody, he made "bizarre statements about Catholicism and Buddhism'' and said a San Francisco police officer was "after him with a gun, '' the police report says.
Boyd was released on bail and charged with several counts, including felony evading arrest, driving without a license and reckless driving. A judge in Oakland dismissed the case Thursday after his death.
Boyd was already out on $250,000 bail stemming from an April 2003 robbery in San Francisco in which he was accused of holding up a man at gunpoint at Sutter and Jones streets. Boyd allegedly pointed a gun at a woman's head during the incident and said, "You wanna get shot?''
That case also was pending when Boyd was killed.
Boyd and his mother had lodged several complaints of their own against law enforcement. Last year, Marylon Boyd filed a claim on her son's behalf with the San Francisco city attorney, accusing police of having arrested him for the robbery because he was black.
The claim alleged that Boyd was "constantly stopped, detained and searched while driving without probable cause" by unidentified police officers. The city rejected the claim.
Also last year, Boyd and his mother filed a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing Oakland police of using excessive force and being insensitive to his disability for strip-searching him by the side of the road, in full view of passers-by, during a traffic stop in 2002.
In a lawsuit filed in March 2002, Boyd and his mother accused Alameda County jail staff members, state prison officials, doctors and others of failing to properly treat a "life-threatening infection to his left stump" while he was being held at Santa Rita Jail.
The events that led to Boyd's death began just after 8 p.m. Wednesday when a woman flagged down police at the corner of Eddy and Laguna streets and said a man with a gun in a black SUV had tried to kidnap her. She ran, and the man drove off, she told police.
Officers spotted Boyd's Chevy Blazer nearby and followed him. Police said Boyd fired at least twice and led police on a chase through several blocks of the Western Addition. Finally, he pulled into Larch Way, a block-long alley off Buchanan Street that serves as a parking lot for Plaza East.
Police said Boyd emerged from the SUV with his hands up, then lowered his arms and sat on the running board. He ignored officers' orders to move away from the car, police said.
Then, said police, Boyd reached under a seat. He again ignored officers' orders to move away and spun around suddenly, at which point police opened fire, investigators said.
Officers said they then found a gun, in the pocket of the driver's door, its butt visible. Tests are being conducted to see whether it had been fired.
Several people interviewed in the area Wednesday night and Thursday said they had seen what happened and disputed the police account.
They said they had seen Boyd's black SUV cruise slowly onto Larch Way as at least 30 children and teenagers played outside. "He was yelling out the car, 'Homey, they're going to kill me!' " said Otis Harris, 53, who lives on Larch.
The Blazer stopped about a half-block from Jefferson Square Park, and "all these police officers came out from everywhere," said Dennis Williams, 25, who cares for his disabled grandmother in Plaza East.
Police asked Boyd several times to leave his car, "then fired multiple shots at the car," said Brandon Johnson, 20, who watched from his Larch Way apartment.
Boyd got out of the car, pulled off his shirt and began to drop his pants "to show he didn't have a weapon," said Angela Washington, another Plaza East resident. "Then the police told him to get on his knees. And he said, 'I ain't got no legs.' "
When officers opened fire, one bullet struck a window in Williams' unit.
Johnson said he had contacted Boyd's mother and Newsom's office about what he saw.
"I'm willing to sign an affidavit right now," said Johnson, who recently enlisted in the Army and departs for service May 25. "They're always saying that nobody is willing to come forward and be a witness to a shooting. Well, here I am. I'm willing."
In keeping with a policy instituted under former Police Chief Alex Fagan, police said they would not release the names of the five officers who fired at Boyd.
The police homicide and management control units and district attorney's offices are investigating, which is standard practice after any fatal shooting involving officers. The independent police monitoring agency, the Office of Citizen Complaints, also has entered the case.
Chronicle staff writers Henry K. Lee, Jim Herron Zamora and Rachel Gordon contributed to this report.
©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ
Page A - 1
