POLICE SHOOTING OF 15-YEAR-OLD IS SURE TO STIR UP CONTROVERSY

While the DA says it was a good shoot, the parents and civil libertarians will see it as an uncalled-for use of deadly force

While I thoroughly agree with the DA that this was a good shoot, I’ll be surprised if a shitstorm of public indignation doesn’t boil up since the little turd was only 15 and the gun was inoperable.

His mother will say he was a good boy who liked to play basketball, read nonfiction books, admired butterflies, sang in the church choir, and planned to be a professional basketball player in the NBA.

The civil libertarians will weep and wail about another case of uncalled-for use of deadly force, this time against a poor young child.

South San Francisco, which is probably already broke, will get the shit sue out of it and the feds will investigate the SSF PD’s use of force policy.

NO FAULT FOUND IN POLICE SHOOTING OF TEEN
By Victoria Colliver

San Francisco Chronicle
August 29, 2012

The San Mateo County district attorney's office on Wednesday determined a South San Francisco police officer was justified in using lethal force when he shot a 15-year-old boy who allegedly pulled a gun during a struggle.

Calling the case "tragic," District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Officer Joshua Cabillo acted appropriately because he believed Derrick Gaines of San Bruno was reaching for a gun as the two struggled during the June 5 incident.

"Confronted by a subject who had been armed, and who was about to be armed again, public safety required Officer Cabillo to use deadly force to protect himself and others in the immediate vicinity," Wagstaffe said in a letter to South San Francisco Police Chief Michael Massoni announcing the end of his office's investigation.

While Gaines' gun was not operable due to the lack of a firing pin, Wagstaffe noted the officer could not have known that.

The prosecutor's office relied on the testimony of a witness who had been pumping gas at the Arco station at Gellert and Westborough boulevards in South San Francisco. It was there that the officer spotted Gaines and a companion acting suspiciously about 9 p.m.

The witness, according to the account, said he could see a gun in Gaines' waistband and he didn't think Cabillo could see the weapon from his position. When Cabillo asked the pair to sit down, Gaines fled.

Cabillo caught up with Gaines and knocked him to the ground. A pistol dropped to the ground and Gaines appeared to reach for the weapon. Cabillo shot him in the neck.

Gaines, who was found to be carrying cocaine and methamphetamine and had the drugs in his system, later died at San Francisco General Hospital.

Gaines' father, who is also named Derrick Gaines, declined to comment. He referred calls to his attorney, John Burris, who did not immediately return a call for comment.