SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A San Francisco woman filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Monday against a San Francisco police officer, claiming she suffered physical and emotional damages as a result of what she said was “an illegal jaywalking arrest.”
On July 29, 2024, cellphone video from bystanders shows police pinning Christiana Porter against a building in San Francisco’s Inner Richmond neighborhood.
According to Porter, a 35-year-old mother of five and domestic violence survivor, the light changed while she was crossing. The San Francisco police officer turned his lights on and pulled up onto the curb, arresting her for jaywalking in the crosswalk near Geary Boulevard and Second Avenue.
“I feel like I was being stalked because I was walking while Black,” Porter told KRON4. “Once my head got smashed into the wall, and all I could feel was ‘stay alive, to just stay alive, get through to the next day, to the next moment.’ That’s all I can think about at this moment.”
Porter’s attorney released the following timeline of the incident:
Video shows Porter in the crosswalk as she crosses 2nd Avenue. SFPD officer Josh McFall’s police vehicle then appears as she’s just three steps from the opposite curb. McFall turns on his light bar behind Porter, who continues down the sidewalk.
The video then shows McFall initially crossing 2nd Avenue almost onto the sidewalk, then driving against traffic on Geary Boulevard before he stops and confronts her.
As Porter walked down the block, McFall exited the police SUV and aggressively stepped into her path. Startled, she stopped, removed her headphones, and asked why she was being detained. McFall ignored her question and instead demanded to know what she was doing, where she was going, and why. Concerned by his behavior, Porter took out her phone to record the encounter and to call her godfather, who lived nearby, to witness the situation.
McFall then approached and pulled out his mace. Mistaking it for a taser, Porter asked for his name and badge number. McFall responded that she was being detained. Her concern escalated to fear, the lawsuit states.
When McFall asked for her identification, Porter reached into her purse to comply. Before she could retrieve it, McFall reached for his firearm and shouted, “Stop reaching into your bag. You are under arrest.” When she asked why, he grabbed her and violently threw her against the wall, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit, Porter v. City and County of San Francisco, Officer Josh McFall, et al
Porter said she suffers from a concussion, separated shoulder, back pain, neck pain and nerve damage from the incident. Porter said she is also dealing with trauma from the physical assault due to past domestic violence abuse.
“I’m more physically limited and now I find myself having to rely on them to take over,” said Porter. “My oldest daughter is sixteen. I just told her ‘Mommy can’t drive right now.’ I never thought that I would be in this situation.”
Porter’s attorney, Treva Stewart, said the lawsuit is also a call for accountability.
“Pretext stops in San Francisco are discriminatory,” said Stewart. “There are racial disparities in policing and even though this law was enacted to circumvent that type of kind of conduct, they continue, and this officer violated the law and this policy.”
According to reports, the accused officer previously broke a homeless man’s arms during a 2018 arrest.
The lawsuit names the city, the county and the officer as defendants.
We reached out to the San Francisco Police Department for comment but did not hear back in time for this report.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A San Francisco woman filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Monday against a San Francisco police officer, claiming she suffered physical and emotional damages as a result of what she said was “an illegal jaywalking arrest.” On July 29, 2024, cellphone video from bystanders shows police pinning Christiana Porter against […]
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