SAN FRANCISCO, CA- A complaint was filed this week by the San Francisco Public Defender with the Department of Police Accountability regarding an incident in July, when a woman on the way to work was repeatedly shoved, violently tackled, arrested and verbally harassed by San Francisco police officers.
According to a statement by the Public Defender’s Office, the woman, Amelia Jones, was a bystander and not an active part of the nearby protest against U.S involvement in Israel’s attack on Gaza. Upon seeing police officers “yank a person to the ground,” she had “yelled for them to stop.”
In response, police officers “aggressively blocked her way and yanked her to the ground as well,” as noted in the statement, adding Jones was arrested and held for 36 hours in jail.
The Public Defender’s Office claims the body camera footage from the incident directly contradicted the description given by officers in their police reports.
And, a judge later dismissed all charges against Jones after reviewing the footage.
Deputy Public Defender Brian Cox, the head of the Integrity Unit of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, said in the complaint officers had violated police policies by “using unnecessary force, failing to intervene in that wrongful use of force, and writing dishonest accounts of the arrest.”
DPD Cox added that “incidents like these demonstrate how police aggressively escalate interactions with community members when it is completely unnecessary, with disturbing and traumatic results.”
Describing the incident in their statement, the Public Defender’s Office recounted how Jones had been walking her bike down Sacramento Street on the morning of July 24, on her way to work. Several police officers dressed in riot gear had been lined up across Sacramento Street at the intersection with Kearny while a protest nearby was dispersing.
Jones saw officers yank a cyclist to the ground, and “she and several other bystanders began yelling for the officers to stop hurting the person,” according to the complaint. Jones was told to get back, despite another person shouting about the treatment of the cyclist being allowed to remain at the intersection.
The complaint then describes how when she attempted to approach the intersection, an officer reportedly “shoved her in the back as she turned away from the officer.” Jones was quoted in the complaint as saying, “I’m on my way to work, I’m on the phone with my coworkers, and I’m just trying to help someone.”
Officers continued to block her and “pushed her to the side,” according to the complaint. Jones, described as “panicked by the officers’ violent actions,” began to “(scream) for help and raised her arms in the air.”
Jones was shoved repeatedly by an officer, and her hand touched the officer’s helmet upon bringing her arms down, the complaint noted, adding the officer “violently tackled Jones to the ground,” pinning her legs and cuffing her.
As reported in the complaint, officers did not try to calm Jones or reduce her visible distress.
Rather, Jones was ridiculed by the officers who were quoted in the complaint as stating, “I know it’s very exciting to have people cheering for you” and “Your fan base is gone, so you’re not really performing for anybody now.”
The complaint notes Jones’ charges were resisting an executive officer, battery on a peace officer, and resisting arrest, for which she was held in County Jail for 36 hours despite having no criminal record.
According to the statement, Jones’ four misdemeanor charges were challenged by her attorney, Deputy Public Defender Elly Leggatt, who cited discrepancies between the body-worn camera footage and police reports. The charges were dismissed by the judge.
Reacting to the incident, Jones stated in the complaint that she would “like to hold police accountable for their misconduct” which caused her “a lot of anguish and pain.”
Further in the complaint Jones claimed that “there have been multiple women on local San Francisco news who have also been forcibly arrested by police for either minor transgressions or nothing at all. Women just crossing the street, on their way to work, or selling hot dogs. Our police are trained to react with aggression and violence. That erodes trust.”
Finally, the complaint discusses the role of the Department of Police Accountability, to which it was filed. This department is described as an impartial city agency reporting to the San Francisco Police Commission whose purpose is to evaluate and investigate complaints from community members regarding misconduct allegations against San Francisco Police Department officers.
